


What if we stood a chance? (together)

by Catradorian5



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Adora (She-Ra) is a Dork, Adora tries to be a smartass, Adorka (She-Ra), Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Background Relationships, Biting, Bondage, Bondage and Discipline, Bottom Adora (She-Ra), Bottom Catra (She-Ra), Brat Adora (She-Ra), Bratty Adora (She-Ra), Catra (She-Ra) Is a Rigger, Catra (She-Ra) Is a Tease, Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Catra (She-Ra) has a praise kink, Catra and Adora go on a fluffy date because I said so :), Catra calls Adora 'kitten' and I'm in love with the idea, Cunnilingus, Dom/sub, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Explicit Consent, F/F, Fluff and Smut, Flutterina (She-Ra) is a bitch, Friends to Enemies, Glow/Glimbow, Human Catra (She-Ra), Hurt/Comfort, I probably dont need to mention it but no one beta reads this, Impact Play, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Light Dom/sub, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Oral Sex, Poor Catra (She-Ra), Power Bottom Catra (She-Ra), Power Play, Praise Kink, Rope Bondage, Service Top Adora (She-Ra), Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra)'s A+ Parenting, Smut, Smut is in chapter 13, Spanking, Stripper Catra (She-Ra), Teasing, Top Adora (She-Ra), Top Catra (She-Ra), alot of biting, bratty catra, catradora, enemies to friends to idiots to lovers, idiots to lovers, im just really simping for Catra rn, more smut in chapter 17, some violence (but its really not that bad lol), student/mentor trope, two idiots - one braincell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:01:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 27
Words: 52,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25384228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catradorian5/pseuds/Catradorian5
Summary: This is a WiP.Adora is tasked with mentoring/teaching Catra to help her graduate.They're both seniors and Adora is everyone's favourite dork.Catra begins to realise that her and Adora may have some similarities(/shared interests) and may or may not give her a chance.I'm really trying not to spoil the plot but I think we ALL know where this is going.
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 240
Kudos: 624
Collections: dianatyrbo she-ra





	1. 'Uneventful'

**Author's Note:**

> Please do excuse some grammatical errors, it's been a while...  
> ALSO I apologise for my poor writing for the first few chapters, you can visibly see it improve as you go :)
> 
> (If you're here for smut, its in chapter 13)  
> (More smut was written, yay for you, its in chapter 17, 18 & 19)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, this chapter was originally written in late 2020, and my writing (& formatting) has vastly changed since then, so what you're reading now is a rewritten version of the original :) 
> 
> I'll be rewritting/editing my old chapters as I go.
> 
> I recommend reading this on a phone, because my variation of sentence length isn't as nice on a computer (and for me, its more of a pain in the ass to read lol).

**T** he classroom, both Catra and Adora were stuck in for an hour, was relatively empty, nothing but oxygen calmly hovering about. Catra made it unmissably obvious that she hadn't a care for whatever Adora was attempting to explain. Instead, her effort was spent gazing out a window.

Adora furrowed her brow, putting the pencil between her fingers down to hunt the spectacle her _'mentoree'_ was so focussed on, sharply inhaling.

"Are you just going to _sit there and do nothing?_ "

Being one of the top students - Entrapta was unbeatable - she was under a lot of pressure to be 'perfect'. With this opportunity, it was as if she was held an actual teacher's standards, expected to never give in to frustration, to be magnanimous, and kind, at every instance, no matter if someone is being a massive asshole to her.

One shrug from Catra was all it took to send Adora overboard. She was tasked with mentoring her peer for a few weeks in order to gain additional credit. But she didn't receive the most 'compliant' student,

_It’s not that Catra's incompetent. It's that she's lazy._

_No, that was a bad choice of wording. I have the entire English lexicon at my disposal, and yet, I chose 'lazy'?_

Adora sighed, _she's just... 'Unmotivated'._

It was tough to find the perfect words, _to be perfect_ , but at least she didn't force her thoughts to be that way -- _most_ of the time.

Adora was always unlucky. Teachers would lump her in with the 'bad' kids, thinking her presence would magically make them turn obedient. Instead, the ' _pleasure to have in class_ ' suffered.

Finally, she puzzled it together. Those heterochromatic eyes weren't latched upon anything specific. Her gaze was so blank that she was probably off in another world, and even if she was staring at something, it would've been a boring oak tree, sat upon a mediocre hill covered in mopey green grass.

She looked back from the window to Catra.

As much as she disliked her, she could admire her style. The best way to put it would probably be _untamed but charming, almost charismatic._

Catra finally turned to Adora, "Look, I know you're trying, but you can give it a rest. I'm not bothered about my grades or whatever," she added -- noticing the pen and paper on her desk for the first time.

"Can you please just-" Adora groaned.

"You don't even have to teach me. I'd rather sit in silence for the next hour and leave, _got it?_ " Her voice had become harsher as she spoke.

Adora didn't even know how to respond. She was shocked not only by Catras demeanour, but also by her abysmal social etiquette. She was unquestionably aware of her poor track record (Bow and Glimmer had warned her many times) but it was even worse than before.

 _Why? Why does everyone do this? Why couldn't people just follow the rules and have basic respect for others? S_ he'd never said anything harsh to this brunette, showed her nothing but kindness, but still had it launched back into her face.

"I'm just trying to help so you can graduate, and we can both move on-" Adora was once again interrupted.

Catra's expression quickly changed, losing her composure.

" _When did I ask for your help?!_ " She growled, slamming her desk, kicking her chair away, and beginning to stomp elsewhere.

On the other hand, Adora sprung up and placed her body in front of the only exit, crossing her arms while watching every movement Catra made. She wasn't going to let this highschooler act like a toddler and treat her like garbage. She _couldn't_ keep doing this.

Even Bow told her she needs to step up a bit more, to stop other people from walking all over her.

"Move," Catra huffed, staring down at the floor, her hands morphing into fists. Their bodies were but a few feet away from each other now.

 _This_ was her chance.

"No. You're _not_ leaving until four o'clock. And until _you_ apologise." Adora was apprehensive of Catra's violent aura but stood her ground. She was rightfully disgruntled -- those few hours they spent together were torturous _at best_.

"I would move if I were you, _princess_ ," Catra kept her voice and eyes at the core of the earth, stepping closer in.

_No one would put up with this, so why should I? Why should I let her do this to me? Why should I sit here and keep giving and giving...?_

_Fuck it!_

For the first time in her life, Adora lashed out. Grabbing Catra by the neck of her hoodie, then raising her from the ground. She didn't even need the strength she built from her boxing classes -- as Catra's weight was strangely low.

"Do you seriously think I want to be stuck with a _delinquent_ like you after school nearly every single day?!" Adora cried. You could see the steam coming from her ears as she released a tsunami of her pent-up anger on this poor student.

So, _so_ , many years of people marching all over you does that.

Catra's eyes were still on the ground, so Adora had grabbed her chin and forced her to look up, though she didn't expect to see tears.

Past the blur, Catra noticed something strange in Adora's eyes: they seemed to be... _Glowing?_

Adora gasped at the aftermath of her actions, finally having processed them a little. She let Catra back down, leaving a deadly silence between them. Looking away, the memory of the brunette’s teary eyes imprinted in her head made its way farthest in her head.

"I swear, I didn't mean it, I-" she was abruptly cut off by Catra's knuckles digging _deep_ down into her left cheek.

 _"That's it. Game on,_ " Adora grunted, clenching her teeth.

Swiftly recovering from the initial shock of what happened, she captured one of Catra's approaching wrists with haste, digging her nails in, surprising her 'opponent'.

Adora utilized Catra's momentum, with the goal of disorientation in mind, by spinning her around and pushing her away.

She only _realised_ that she used to far too much force by the sound of Catra's back **slamming** into a desk, causing a domino effect on the others.

Catra had even winced (against her will) and held her wrist in agony. She was slumped over, trapped. This had never happened to her in a fight before. She _always_ won.

Then again, she _did_ win.

Adora was also frozen in place, having had no clue as to how she should react. Or what she should do, so she was getting ready to run, taking one last glance at Catra.

_Still lying on the floor._

"Looks like you're not as perfect as you think you are." Catra tried to piss her off but was too winded to get her snarky comment out the way she wanted to.

Feeling a guilty pang in her chest, Adora understood that health should come before anger, or fear, so she dropped her bags by the doorframe and went to check on the damage she did.

She knew that if she didn't at least _try_ to help, then she would regret it. Reaching a hand out for Catra, she offered her medical help.

"I don't need your pity," she spat, refusing Adora.

"What do you think the principal is gonna say when he finds out you _assaulted_ a student? _Hm_?" Catra smugly asked.

"He'll say it was self-defence-" Adora smugly remarked.

"You sure about that?" Catra's eyes went straight to a 'camera' in the corner of the classroom,

"Do you seriously think that _any_ colleges are going to accept you with _this_ on your record?" Catra raised a brow, staring into Adora's mystic blue eyes with a satisfied smirk.

"It was self-defence. You hit me!" Adora's voice went up an octave.

"And you harassed and grabbed me. _How good does that look?_ " Catra scoffed.

Though she barely spent any time with Adora, she seemed to know her weak points in and out already. She was good at her craft: getting under people's skin. 

Stepping back, Adora felt as if the wind was knocked out of her. Rather than the person literally slumped over the floor ahead of her, struggling to get full breaths in. _Shit_ , her lungs hurt from the violent movement she put them through, hyperventilating.

 _THIS CAN'T BE IT. This can't ruin everything. It can't! I've worked so hard all my life; I can't have just thrown it away like that! My future-_ Adora's thoughts raced, so far past the speed limit that they dared to cut each other off -- becoming unrecognisable.

Catra watched in silence. She could've (should've) grabbed a bucket of popcorn and enjoyed the show in front of her, she could've taken pleasure in watching a sheltered 'role model' student with a God complex drop to the floor and struggle to breathe while crying, but she didn't.

She felt... Bad? Guilty? Even... _Remorseful?_

"Pleasepleaseplease don't tell anyone, please-" Adora begged, with her hands wrapped around one of Catras, still crying as she tried to make eye contact.

Catra sat there and refused to look into the deep blue of Adora's eyes for more than a second.

She just felt a weird sense of confusion, like she was sort of disconnected from her usual self... It was such a novel sensation for Catra. She had never really felt it's burden on her back before -- when other students begged for her mercy, but... Something was weird. An ominous feeling in the pit of her stomach settled.

"Hey, I- I wasn't being serious, y'know..." Catra's voice drifted away from her usual _'I don't give a fuck'_ tone.

That feeling in her stomach had faded a bit.

"They'd never throw their favourite student out anyway," she added, "the school’s status would literally decrease if they did."

Adora finally grabbed her bags and ran, not daring to look back at Catra on her way out.

" _What the fuck?_ " Catra whispered to herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys/gals/enby pals enjoy the fic, the quality of my writing changes as it progresses (don't worry it gets better after a few chapters) and I am constantly learning to improve :^) 
> 
> I love the way ao3 just hates my formatting when I copy my doc in from google docs, it really hates indents lmao


	2. Whats her name?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the sweet comments! They really motivated me :')  
> (wrote this at 2am cause yall hyped me up lol)  
> Also Scorpia deserves all the love in the world, she is so honey-sweet.  
> The next update will probably take me a few days since I want Adora's encounter with Catra to be *chefs kiss*

Adora sped through a hallway, she found a familiar door and hurriedly opened it. She was now in a storage closet (which housed a lot of her panic attacks in the last few years).

"Pick up... Please..." Adora grabbed her phone, tapping on Bow's contact.

It was hard to read, everything was so blurry from tears. 

She placed her back on the cold concrete wall beside her and slid down, sitting with her knees at her chest - her lungs still begging for air - listening to her phone ringing.

"Adora?" Bow asked, surprised by the call.

"Can we meet up, I really need to talk to you." Adora was incredibly frank. 

"Yeah, are you still at school? I can pick you up. You sound a bit freaked out." Bow could hear her shake over the phone, the concern in his voice became clearer towards the end of the call.

\- - - - - - -

"Wildcat! Hey!" Scorpia beamed, Catra wasn't one to surprise visit her.

"Hey..." Catra sat down.

Scorpia's house was... Tidy, and that was something Catra was still not used to (even though she spent nearly every day there, it was the easiest way to avoid her 'mother').

"Are you okay?" She asked, stepping closer to see Catras puffy eyes.

She was staring up at the crimson walls surrounding her. When they were growing up, Scorpia asked Catra for her favourite colour and it was red, she devoted herself to the friendship so much that she forced herself to love the colour too. She went so far as to paint her room red _purely_ for Catra.

"I'm fine." Catra swatted Scorpias approaching palm away from her shoulder.

Scorpia always tried so hard for Catra, anything for _her_ Catra, she was her favourite person in the world, she dedicated everything to her. Even if people judged her for it.

"I don't want to push you on it but... You look like you've been crying, you know you can always talk to me." Scorpia sat beside her.

She remembered her first memory of Catra fondly - in elementary - when she saw the other kids avoiding Catra she made it a personal goal to show her love and affection. To give her some compassion by sitting beside her and starting a conversation.

Catra didn't say anything, she walked up to a window and stood by it.

_She's a good person... She's just misunderstood. Whatever happened can't have been her fault._

\- - - - - - -

"A-Adora?" Bow sat in Glimmers car, noticing a large red mark on her face.

"Bow," Adora responded, briefly faking a smile. 

Adora was silent as she opened a door and neatly put her bags down, she didn't want to talk about it just yet.

"So... What happened?" He looked at her through the rearview mirror. 

Adora was not her usual self, she was leaning on the door, deeply staring out the window, trying to distract herself with something...

_Anything..._

Bow started the car up as Adora watched the world around her become a blur. 

No matter how hard she tried to get away from what happened, something would remind her, whether it was a crack in the pavement or a lamppost, even the strangest things kept bringing her back to that memory, to those _teary_ eyes.  
To the collision of her body and that solid wooden desk.  
To the pained grasp of her wrist.  
To her winded voice...

\- - - - - - 

Catra rolled up her sleeve to see the damage Adora probably did, from the pain she assumed that Adora probably ripped her skin out but no. It was just red and stung a little, in contrast to the burning she felt earlier.

"Why would she... Not hurt me?" Catra mumbled to herself, basking in confusion. 

_She should've. I deserve it._

Scorpia pretended to be on her phone, she knew that Catra would refuse to say anything to her so she kept sneaking glances, trying to put the puzzle together. 

_Puffy eyes... She must've been crying. She keeps checking her wrist... Maybe she..._

Scorpia gasped at the conclusion she came to, she sprang up from her seat, 

"Catra, have you been feeling _really bad_ lately? Did your mom do something again?" Scorpia asked, her movements were closer to erratic than to calm. 

"What?! No." Catra became defensive. 

"Then what's going on? Come on, I want to help you," Scorpia reached her palms out to her. 

_Her voice... That blondes voice came back to her mind..._  
So Catra was about to run, run from her problems the same way she always has.

"I don't want your help either!" Catra climbed out of her window, her last glance of Scorpia featured a frown, a sight that Catra often saw. 

She felt guilty before she even knew what guilt was. 

_Why doesn't she get it? I don't want to talk about it, I don't want to talk, I want her to just treat me normally. But ever since she saw-_

Catra grunted as she gripped the brick wall beside her, feeling her palms scratch the bumpy surface as she fell. 

\- - - - - - - - - 

"So... You basically got in a fight?" Glimmer was eyeing Adora, she began to chuckle. 

"What's so funny? I could lose my place in Brightmoon college if she tells anyone!" Adora was freaking out again. 

Bow pressed his palm to her shoulder, calming her down. 

"They would never believe her," he said. 

"But there was a camera!" Adora looked between him and Glimmer as they looked at each other and smiled. 

Adora can really be... Naive at times.

"Adora, they're fakes. They could never afford to install _real_ cameras in every classroom," they chuckled together as Adora's eyebrows relaxed. 

"Really?" Adora began to quote en quote 'chill out'. 

Bow and Glimmer had to teach her what 'chilling out' even meant as Adora kept working herself into burnout. Every second was spent learning, helping or even training, she tried so hard to please everyone that it was beyond unhealthy. 

Even Razz could see the eyebags Adora lugged without her thick lenses and that was _really_ saying something. 

"Well, we need to talk more so..." Glimmers voice began to squeak. 

"I think this means a mandatory sleepover!" Glimmer bounced, her energy radiating the room. 

"What am I going to do about tomorrow?" Adora was still focused on Catra, her mind was still straining on those yellow and blue orbs.

She was still so deep in thought. 

"We can discuss that later, you can call Razz and let her know now." Glimmer ran to the kitchen for snacks. 

\- - - - - - - - - - - 

Scorpia ran over to Catra, this time she was focused on being more assertive,  
_sometimes people need to do or say things that made them feel bad for their own sake._

The fall didn't look too bad but Catra was struggling, she hated it. She hated feeling vulnerable... No, she despised it, the very idea of it.

"That's it. I'm bringing you in, you're sleeping over and we are going to _talk_." She said.

_This is good for her. I am being a good friend._

To Catras dismay, she should not escape the bear hug that Scorpia gave her on the way back inside.

"Whatever." Catra accepted her fate. She couldn't escape this. 

She crossed her arms as Scorpia made her tea. Her signature 'stress-free' tea, she kept blaring on about the healing effects of this and that flower while filling the kettle. 

But Catras mind went back to 'what's her name'.  
_That dork..._


	3. Not so equal.

"Okay, so why are we doing this again?" Scorpia asked Catra as they sat in the same dull classroom as yesterday.

Adora was to arrive soon and Catra was not prepared for it.

"Well, if I don't turn up then Micah will be up my ass. It's not like I want to be here," Catra explained, her mind wandering elsewhere.

"Okay. Well... Anyway, who's teaching you?" Scorpia questioned. Catra refused to give up details about what happened the day before. The only thing that Scorpia knew for a fact is that there was some kind of conflict.

"Some blonde jock-" Catra was interrupted.

"So she's been teaching you for a week and you don't even know her name?-" the door opened gently, it revealed Adora. She was quiet, watching her feet as she stepped over to a nearby desk.

There was a moment of silence as the energy of the room drastically transformed.

"Adora?" Scorpia had lit up.

"Y'all know each other?-" Catra's brows furrowed as she was ignored.

"Scorpia! How have you been?" Adora was pulled into a warm embrace, wrapping her arms around her back.

Her hugs were _the best._ There was no way to hate them, Scorpia was not only warm but she also radiated joyous energy that had no problem permeating a room. There was a sort of hopeful, innocent, love that she spread to anything - and everything - with every step she took.

"Great! And you?" She replied.

"Not too bad, thanks." Adora smiled, refusing to look at the ball of raw snark beside her while removing herself from Scorpia's arms.

"I can't believe you're teaching my wildcat." She smiled.

"It's not really teaching-" Adora realises her and Catra managed to say the exact same thing at the same time, their eyes finally met before retreating elsewhere.

Catra's eyes were glued to her phone, trying her best to not sneak a glance at her 'adversary'.

Adora sat down, placing her bag on a desk as she grabbed a few sheets of paper, each of them featuring a myriad of triangles and numbers.

"If a teacher walks in on us, just pretend to look at these and I'll pretend to explain them," Adora handed them out, she thought of a functional strategy to comply with Catra's plea last night.

She still didn't say a word to Catra…

Funnily enough, Scorpia was actually invested in the questions on the paper and ended up getting a really productive half-hour lesson on trigonometry while Catra was texting someone.

\------------------------------------------

"You are super helpful! Thanks for the lesson, I'll see you at the gym later!" Scorpia smiled as she left.

"No problem, see you later!" Adora was now beginning to sweat, the last half hour was to be spent with Catra. Alone.

"How come you two know each other?" Catra demanded, her eyes still on her phone.

"Uh... We both participate in a lot of sports, especially boxing. She is incredibly skilled. So I see her often..." Adora's response was met with a huff from Catra.

_Boxing? Really Adora? What else do you have up your sleeve?_

The silence that ensued was beyond awkward so Adora grabbed a book from her bag and began reading. This was probably her millionth time re-reading it. 

"Tch, some animals are more equal than others, am I right?" Catra said unconsciously as she snuck a glance at Adora's book.

"Yeah, I guess so." Adora chuckled.

Her eyes lit up at the realisation that...

"Wait! You've read this?" Adora raised a brow.

"Only because I had to, for English." Catra tried to be as dismissive as possible.

"All I know is that this Orwell dude wrote some book about the Russian revolution but with animals in a farm and some shit." She finished.

Adora was too distracted by Catra's interest in a book to even care about her poor language.

"Wow, I didn't know you were such a _nerd_." Adora giggled.

Catra was beginning to heat up as an adorable blush spread over her face, she couldn't even come up with a snarky remark.

"It was only because I had to! For an English project!" Catra screeched, she felt her ears burning.

Adora loved this. Why? Maybe it could be a way to get her to actually invest some effort in English literature... Or perhaps it was because Catra had another side to her, one that Adora wanted to know better.

_Maybe..._

"You've never felt compelled to do any classwork before, so why start now?" Adora had the infamous smug grin... The one she always carried after winning a match, though it was never malicious or self absorbent like the one Catra was familiar with.

She didn't have a snarky response to that one either. She just huffed as she looked back at her phone.

Adora's logic was just too hard to refute sometimes.

She was about to text a kid in the year below her about a 'deal' before Adora interrupted her train of thought.

"There's nothing wrong with having an interest in literature you know..." Adora said, she was still somewhat surprised that Catra actually _read_ something, and she clearly analysed it since the reference she made could only be made by someone well informed.

"I thought delinquents like me aren't supposed to-" Catra mumbled as she was about to make a comment laced with venom but she stopped herself. 

It was so quiet that Adora probably didn't even hear her.

Meanwhile, Adora was staring at her hair.

_How does she do her hair like that? It looks messy but the asymmetry is aesthetically pleasing..._

There was a moment of silence until Catra looked back up.

"What?" Catra caught her. She pressed her hand to it, checking it.

_No. I don't want to look self-conscious, I don't want her to think she can get in my head that easily._

"Nothing, it just… Looks cool." Adora smiled, lightly blushing.

"Of course it does. C'mon Adora, what else would you expect from a top-notch student like me?" Catra scoffed as she was making dramatic gestures with her hand.

They managed to roll their eyes at the same time as each other, Catra raised a brow as she looked at Adora.

"Well, your hair looks like shit." She squinted.

And it did. Adora had P.E. As her last lesson so she was beyond sweaty, strands of her hair were falling out of their ponytail every second.

"And what's with you and that hair poof thing?" Catra wanted to poke it or at least rip it out of its misery.

It was painful to look at.

"It just makes your giant forehead looks even bigger than-" Catra was cut off.

"An airport runway? Yeah, you could land an aeroplane on my forehead, I know... I've heard it all before." Adora finally blurted out. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was quite self-conscious of her hair and hairline too.

"I was doing cardio last lesson, okay? That's why it's such a mess." She explained herself.

"You're clearly not built for cardio, princess." Catra laughed, and it was true, Adora didn't have the ideal body type for running, she was always focussed on lifting more.

_Endurance running has never been my best..._

"And what do you know? I've never seen you on a treadmill." Adora was feeling stand-off-ish since Catra used that pet name. 

Something about that pet name always threw her off.

"I don't waste my money on some gym membership shit. You ever heard of a field?" Catra defended herself.

She was not one to have lunch money, let alone gym membership money. Bullying kids out of their lunch was the only way to feed herself beyond Scorpias baking and leftovers.

"Bet I'm faster than you anyway." Catra scoffed.

"Yeah right. Prove it." Adora was being cockier than usual. She wasn't going to pretend like she didn't train her body constantly. With the muscle she had, she was pretty much an athlete.

"Fine. Friday. We race at the forest by Mystacor." Catra huffed, she didn't know what compelled her to prove herself but here she was.

"Wait, isn't that area off-limits?" Adora asked.

"What? Are you looking for an excuse to get yourself out of the race?" Catra grinned smugly.

"No... It's just... Haven't you heard the stories about all the people that go missing there?" Adora asked.

"Yeah well, the people that went missing were kids. We're adults Adora. I'm pretty sure we can handle ourselves." She said.

Catra had met the edge of the forest a few times, though she never entered it. She hoped that Adora would refuse the race but...

"Fine. Friday it is." Adora was determined to make Catra earn her cocky grin.

"I'll send you the coordinates on the day, I don't want security catching us." She texted Entrapta, asking her to send Adora's number over.

_Or hack into her account or something..._

"They have security? Why would they have security?" Adora was confused.

"I don't know, it's fucking stupid." Catra finally got her number.

She texted her, 'afterschool. friday.'

Adora heard her phone buzz as she checked it.

"How did you get my number?" she made a contact named Catra.

"I have a few friends who are very... Capable." She explained, not wanting to give away too much information.

Those thirty minutes went surprisingly quick.

"I'll see you around, _Princess._ " Catra looked at the clock, leaving the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I need to make an update schedule or something...
> 
> Anyways I'm not sure about the next chapter so it will take me a few days, I think I might timeskip straight to the race because I am determined to write it :)
> 
> Sorry for the wait, I didn't know how to go about this chapter lol.
> 
> (also sorry for the weird spacing, I wrote this on my phone and then sent that to my computer and I didn't like how it looked so arghhhhh lol)


	4. There are no rules.

The days before the race were a blur to Catra, she was so hyper focussed on one thing. Not looking like an idiot.

_Why did I ask a jock to a race?_

Catra pressed her palm to her face, closing her eyes as she dragged it down and hummed as her elastic skin stretched and returned to its resting position.  
The only thing running was her mind, it was difficult to plan things out when Adora was all she could think of. That stupid smug face…

_I guess I’ll have to do what I’ve always done. Play dirty._

Catra was not one to think strategically but there she was, sitting in geography class, she debated a few ideas – still very unsure as to how things will turn out.

_How far are we even going to run?_

It’s not as though Catra was a bad runner – it was one of her earliest coping mechanisms – but she knew that she couldn’t compete with someone who consistently put effort into getting better. Like Adora did. It’s not like she ran a marathon every day, but that blonde ‘nerd’ probably did. Having natural talent is one thing, but building on it is another.

Every minute, Catra checked her phone. Every second was spent thinking and thinking and _thinking_ about that ‘dork’.

Adora’s running would probably be very different from Catra’s way of running, she fuelled herself with pain, fear and anger. She ran her fastest when she felt like the world was collapsing around her like the earth was about to swallow her body. When her blood was pumping so fast that her heart was about to erupt.

She could trigger that instinct to sprint for her life but she didn’t want to trigger _it_...

_I don’t even know what would even happen if someone saw that…_

Her abilities were unprecedented to such a degree that they would deserve testing, _experimentation_.

_Entrapta would love that..._

\------------------------------------------------

“Class is dismissed!” The teacher projected their voice about the room as the students within it paused and resumed their chatter.

Adora’s classes were so lively in contrast to Catras, everyone was free to talk as long as they didn’t interrupt their teacher. As good as that appeared, Adora actually disliked it, she couldn’t think about her lesson _or Catra_ while her classmates were squealing over how semi-permeable membranes were fascinating.  
She didn’t even know how to feel about it, one half of her was being cocky and the other half was trying not to underestimate Catra.

_I wish I could get to know her..._

“Hey! Adora!” Bow waved his hand at Adora, he tried to get her out of her dream-like state.

“Oh. Hey.” Adora murmured. 

She shut her book and put it back in her bag.

“Do you want to stay over at Glimmers with me?” Bow grinned as he spoke.

“Ah, sorry but I’ve got a study weekend planned. You know how difficult Angella's tests are,” She said, a portion of her mind was still wandering elsewhere.

“Alrighty then, I guess I’ll see you on Monday, let me know how that race goes.” Bow was stood at the doorway as Adora wished him a good weekend. Glimmer and Bow knew to back off when she was going to study, Adora went berserk once. Just once. When they texted her during a ‘study hour’.

Adora went to drop her bags off, she was going to come back to pick up a few books from the school library afterwards anyway.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Catra stretched as she concluded where security went, she sent Adora the coordinates while jumping the fence and sitting on a nearby tree stump. She decided to plug her earphones in and play something to help tranquillize her mind. Though her music had the opposite effect.

The rattle of the fence woke Catra from her stasis. She took out her earphones while Adora was struggling to jump the barrier.

“Never jumped a fence before?” She chuckled, watching Adora nearly slip as she grabbed onto the top half and avoided the spikes.

"Didn't think you'd show up," Catra smirked, making eye contact with Adora’s red and white letterman jacket, her eyes trailing down to Adora’s jeans and black boots.

It gave Catra some hope that she might win. Afterall Adora was clearly unprepared to do any sort of running.

_Who would want to run in jeans?_

“Why would I want to miss whooping your ass?” Adora tried to be smug as she descended from the fence, bending her knees as she landed.

Catra scoffed while she led Adora further under the shade of trees hanging above them.

Adora’s eyes were travelling about Catras outfit, her hair was in a ponytail which was a nice change… She wore a black crop top over a grey long sleeve. Her dark red shorts covered her knees, swaying with her backpack as she walked.

 _Damn it. I should’ve at least switched to running shoes…_ Adora internally groaned.

"We should be out of sight by now,” Catra declared. She turned to face Adora and smirked as she noticed Adora's eyes travel up to her own.

_That's one way to throw her off..._

“Right, so how far are we running and what are the rules?” She asked.

 _Of course she asks for rules…_ Catra laughed.

“First of all, there are no rules, and second, we run until we can’t run any more or until someone admits defeat.” Catra smiled, her endurance running should be superior to Adora’s. That was one way that Catra could get an advantage and she took it...

“Alright. When do we start?” Adora asked.

“Now.” Catra took off, nearly sprinting as she sought to show off her speed.

"Tch. Of course." Adora rolled her eyes and followed after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh sorry for the wait- I think I'll be updating every fourish days.  
> Anyways, hope yall enjoyed this chapter, I just wanted a bit of build up for the race :)
> 
> ahhh I want to say more but I don't want to spoil anything :^)  
> Have a good day/night lol


	5. Real smooth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yall have waited so here is 1.8k words to feed your catradora loving braincells.  
> 

Catra’s breathing had become arrhythmic, she began to slow down in order to conserve her energy.  
The feeling of wind between every strand of her hair and every millimetre of their skin was beyond refreshing. But not as refreshing as beating a jock.  
Adora was already mimicking her pace, just a few meters behind.

_I need to get her overworked somehow…_

“You finally caught up?” Catra smirked, she kept her eyes at the horizon, maintaining focus.

The branches around them were tempting, Catra could’ve vaulted onto one of them, she could’ve used her momentum to sling her ahead of the competition, to give her another advantage. The instinct to do so was so primal that it was difficult for her to refuse. Catra could visualise digging her nails into the wilderness around them, she could see herself finding a vantage point. She could win then and there. 

There are no rules after all.

Adora didn’t respond, she knew not to communicate, it would only distract her. It’s like looking back at your opponent during a race, it’s a basic rule: don’t look back.  
Adora focussed on the feeling of her heels hitting the dirt beneath her with every stride she took.

_Don’t pay attention._

Then that satisfied chuckle left Catras lip.

It was the type of chuckle that should’ve angered Adora but it didn’t. It was in fact relieving, she could see how much work Catra was putting in for once. Perhaps this meant something to her...

_I can’t give her what she craves._

They ran in silence for the next few minutes, Adora was still catching up to Catra, she sustained her speed, to conserve is to win. Therefore, to wait until Catra was tired and sprint past her should help her win. They were both huffing, their need for oxygen was not desperate but it was noticeable.

_I need to speed up for Adora to get tired, I need to exhaust her. I need to… Distract her. Somehow..._

Catra noticed a few roots from a nearby tree approaching her line of sight…

_Timing._

A second or so had elapsed.

“Hey princess…” She smirked. She turned around and stared directly into Adora’s big eyes, being careful to not trip.  
Not only was Adora hot - due to the exercise – she was now burning up from the look of Catra biting her lip.

 _Easier than I thought..._ Catra mischievously grinned at the success of her plan.

“Watch out.” Catra turned back to face the horizon she was focussing so heavily on earlier. She assessed her surroundings, hearing a distinct thud as she kept running, refusing to turn back again.  
Even though it would’ve been _beyond_ satisfying to watch Adora eat shit.

What she did not expect, however, was a grunt following Adora's fall.

Adora dug her palms into the dirt, releasing her foot from the roots trapping her. She swiftly pushed herself up, the feeling of burning in her lungs was becoming more and more present as she took note of her physical state.

_Alright, you can play dirty. I can play dirty too._

She slammed the earth beneath her with every step now. She was beginning to unleash herself. There were no rules after all. Her dark grin triumphantly reigned.

_You’ll have to earn that cocky smirk next time._

“Woah…” Catra watched Adora sprint ahead of her, she could see her muscles tensing under her jeans before she resumed looking for an advantage.

Then she gripped onto a wild vine hanging from a tree, allowing for a very brief break for her aching legs – and lungs. She leapt from it, landing on all fours. She dug her claws into the grass as she propelled herself forward, now mere feet behind Adora.

Adora could feel the material of her jeans stretching and refusing to rip as her muscles expanded.

_I’m not going too far… Just let me win this._

Catra sped up, following Adora’s speed.

“You won't last long if you keep running like that,” Catra commented.

“What are you going to do about it?” Adora kept running. To call her speech breathy would be the understatement of a century.

“You’ll see,” Catra saw an opportunity so she sped up.

She pounced, allowing all of her body weight to fall onto Adora as she leapt off of her back, forcing Adora onto the ground and allowing Catra to get ahead. She continued to sprint on all fours without even realising it. It felt so natural. It felt _amazing._

Adora clenched her teeth as she got off of the ground for the second time, aimlessly throwing herself into the air as her legs went into autopilot. Everything was a blur.

Catra looked back.

_Wait, was that a… Tail. Oh shit. Fuck!-_

She felt Adora’s grip on her ankle pull her off balance, they fell together this time.

“What the fuck?!” Catra screeched as she was being pulled back before she escaped Adora’s iron grip. She scrambled away, trying to pick herself off the ground.  
They were standing in front of each other, slumped over as they panted for air. Catra felt her chest rise and fall as she made eye contact. She placed her hand over her stomach, she felt something oddly sharp. She looked down, seeing her claws resting on her furry skin.

Her eyes widened.

She kept looking back from Adora to her hands and back again. Adora’s expression was impossible to read. Maybe it was a mix of confusion and care? Or it was a look of repugnance.  
Power. Adora now had an incomprehensible amount of power over Catra. A single word of this... This incident could get her slaughtered in under sixty seconds.

“A-Are you okay?” Adora delicately asked, her hand instinctively left her side and offered itself.

Catra was completely frozen in place.

“You can’t tell anyone.” Catra blurted out as she began to approach a very confused Adora.

“Why would I tell anyone?” Adora questioned.

Catra gripped Adora by the collar of her letterman jacket, she slung her back into the bark of a large willow tree. Their faces were close enough to feel each other's hot breath -- Adora was heavier than Catra remembered but she hardly took notice of that.

Catra held her there, their eyes bonded like glue. Adora's lips parted as her chest heaved.

“Because you hate me.” Catra's eyes continued to burn Adora’s form in her retina as she huffed and tried to loom over Adora’s body. (Which really didn’t work, she had to tiptoe just to reach her height. Though, this time she felt even smaller than before.)

Adora’s brows furrowed and relaxed as she portrayed her confusion clearly.

“Catra… I have never hated you,” she said, continuing to switch her view of one of Catra’s eyes to her other as she inevitably landed on her blue one.

“Bullshit,” Catra spat.

“Why would I hate you?” Adora asked, staying in Catras grip.

She didn’t refuse to move because Catra 'intimidated' her (which she very much did not). Adora was actually somewhat comfortable, she decided to show vulnerability as she let Catra hold her hostage… She felt strangely warm. She knew she could overpower her any second... But she didn't.

_I can see why she thinks I shouldn't like her but its just not-_

“You fucking hit me and I threatened you. Why would you not hate me? Isn’t it obvious?” Catra scrambled her words but Adora could still read them.

"Catra, I-" Adora tried to refute her.

"No. You don't have to pretend you like me. I know you don't-" Catra snarled, her hand scraped the bark off of the tree behind Adora as her claws became longer.

She grabbed Catra and switched their position, Adora's body was now looming over Catra's as her biceps flexed and her claws refused to retract, Adora grabbed her arms and forced them against the tree, leaving a small rip in her jacket as she did so.

_No. I don't pretend. I don't hate you._

“Catra… If anything, I hate myself for that. I don’t hate you. Yeah, you were a bit of a bitch but that doesn’t mean that you deserve to be treated the way I treated you. I’m sorry. I'm so sorry. What I did wasn't okay and there's no way to justify-” Adora’s word vomit was interrupted by the look of fear in Catra's face. 

"Adora, I think-" Catra whispered before Adora realised.

_Footsteps..._

She watched Catra’s ears twitch as she grabbed her by the waist, Adora forced their colliding bodies to fall onto the ground.  
They both rolled to hide their bodies behind a few shrubs of light green.  
One of Adora's legs accidentally landed between Catra’s after they fell and the heat from Adora's knee caused some strange feelings to arise in Catra's body.

Catra's mid-fall yelp was muzzled by Adora's palm.

Catra ended up lying under Adora as she (pretty much) straddled her. Catra's backpack had fallen off of her shoulders during the fall and landed beside her head. Adora's glowing blue eyes peeked through the leaves of the shrub intently. Catra wasn't one to heat up much but her cheeks felt like someone slapped her with burning gasoline. She hated to admit it but she was entertained by the view above her. Adora took her hand from over Catra's lips and pressed it to her waist as she held herself up.

Catra's lips parted while she shut her eyes and focussed on what she felt.

Adora refused to release her hand from around Catras fuzzy waist, her fur was about as smooth as a Casanova’s charm. However, in contrast to Catras swooning, Adora was _trying_ to focus on the approaching threat.  
Catra felt something pounding under her ribcage but she couldn’t notice it over the intoxicating feeling that flooded her veins.

_What? What's going on?_

Something was about to erupt from her... She felt something rising in her chest. Something floating up to her throat and causing her vocal cords to vibrate as she took a breath.

_Wait- is this?-_

Catra's eyes jolted elsewhere as she heard herself purr, she slammed her hands over her mouth and in the corner of her eye, she saw Adora take a quick glance at her and back.

Beside her sat a few pastel-coloured flowers, this was like nothing Catra had seen before... Nothing that would belong in Etheria...

Except she has.

_The book. Is this-  
If these are what I think they are then are we?-  
W-We're in the Whispering Woods.  
We're in the Whispering Woods!  
These plants haven't been spotted anywhere else.  
Shit! How did I not realise this earlier? We're fucked.  
We are so fucked._

Her eyes had widened as she scoped out the nature surrounding them, this place was magic after all. The species of plants are so different and there were so many that Catra couldn't store the information regarding every one of them in her mind. She only stored useful ones...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope yall don't hate the existence of magic in this universe.  
> I've had a plan for a while but didn't know whether I should go for it or not but here we are :^)


	6. Fascinating...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a solid 2k words for yall :)

Catra’s eyes ended up being pinned on the flowers she saw earlier, they had pastel blue petals surrounding a darker blue pistil, the stem featured familiar bumps of yellow that Catra took note of from her ‘forbidden’ literature.

_I need to get my hands on them_

Adora’s brain cells collectively agreed to put every bit of their energy into trying to distinguish the green figures walking past them, they appeared to be very familiar with this land, not even bothering to look around. All in all, they held a weird kind of confidence. Adora felt something wrapping around her wrist before she realised Catra was trying to get her hands off of her waist as she tried to wiggle out.  
Catra felt like her skin was burning, her muscles tensed, trying to ease the feeling.

Adora went bright red. She moved her knee out from between Catra’s legs and noticed how freezing cold the earth beneath her was.

“Sorry,” Adora silently mouthed with an awkward grin, taking her hand off and resting it on the grass as she went back to listening for footsteps. Watching figures walk in the distance. They became easier to spot as they walked into another region with less shade, the direct sunlight made their cloak-like garments a lot more obvious.

_They must be the type to lurk in the shadows..._

Meanwhile, Catra opened her bag, she looked for something to store the flowers in. The flowers could not be squashed in any way or their effects would be set off. She carefully took out a plastic food container.

_Perfect._

Opening the container quietly was a lot harder than she thought, she tried to avoid the click that would normally follow as she undid the ‘ _fucking handle things_ ’. The other issue was that the container had some leftover food still in it, two of Scorpia’s scones to be exact. She took one out, holding it between her sharp canine, The other one was making its way to Adora.

Adora turned her head to see Catra approach -- she was rather confused, to say the least.

Catra sat up a tiny bit, just enough to reach her mouth with her hands, she held Adora's chin as she pulled it down, revealing her spotless teeth and placing the scone between them. The look on her face while this process occurred was priceless. She could see the shine of Adora's sweat reflect off her skin, which featured a delectable rosy tint. Adora gave her an awkward thumbs up before turning back to the shrub.

The problem was that the figures were too far away for Adora to see by now, so she had decided to watch what Catra was doing.

She was rummaging through her bag before she found her trusty flick knife, tipping the remaining crumbs out of the lunch container, she came closer to the flowers. Catra made a conscious effort to avoid touching the yellow bumps on the stem as she patiently cut the heads off, placing them in the box one by one. It was painfully slow but being poisoned would've been a hell of a lot worse.

Adora had hardly seen Catra so focussed – other than during their race- and so gentle…

Once she was finished, she shut the container, ensuring that everything was fully sealed. Catra's eyes went back to check up on the blonde beside her. Fur bristled as she noticed Adora's glowing lamps for eyes expectedly staring at her. A bead of sweat dropped from Catra's forehead.

“Oh hey… Um, whoever walked past us is long gone now.” Adora awkwardly assured her.

“Cool.” Catra nonchalantly placed the knife in her pocket and the box back in her backpack. She briefly looked at Adora, expecting an interrogation.

_Why does she carry a knife? Does she feel unsafe? What happened?_

Adora looked at the stem of the flowers that Catra cut off, she tried to silently ask Catra - without actually saying anything - and it somehow worked. Actions can scream as loud as words, _sometimes_.  
Catra rolled her eyes, taking a moment to decide whether she could trust Adora enough to tell her.

_Well, she already knows I’m magic, I guess there's no point in hiding this._

“They’re magic. You can use them for certain stuff,” she quietly explained. Her voice sounded raspier than usual. She kept her explanation vague, the flowers were predominantly used by users new to magic - though it can be necessary for certain spells - they were essentially multi-tool for any witch or sorcerer.

“Woah, that’s pretty interesting, how do you even know about them? I've never seen anything regarding magic,” Adora said, her hand drew closer to the stem.

Catra slapped her hand away.

“The stem is poisonous dumbass, never touch anything with weird bumps like that,” Catra chuckled, she was teaching Adora for once, instead of it being the other way around.

“I read a lot about this kinda stuff,” she rubbed the back of her neck.

“These are called cynocephaleas but I just call them cynos. They’re indigenous to the Whispering Woods, which would explain a lot,” she continued.

Catra never had an excuse to talk about things like this – and now that she does, she puts effort into stopping herself from dumping a truckload of information.

_So this is why Entrapta rambles on about shit so much..._

“What is the Whispering Woods? Is this it?” Adora asked.

She would typically be embarrassed about asking questions. Adora was bullied throughout middle school for doing so -- it became a pattern for her to extensively review the subject she was learning about before her lesson to avoid the ordeal. However, she felt completely comfortable around Catra, it was incredibly strange for her.

“Where we are right now. You see the issue is that this place is full of magic, it's no coincidence that people go missing here,” Catra explained, opening her bag and grabbing a regular looking book. 

The book felt heavier than usual for some reason...

“No one would think I’m hiding the good shit in a sappy romance novel,” she chuckled. Adora saw how she hid the book, the cover must’ve been replaced with a different book and the first few pages appear to be a story of some sort. However, the first 'chapter' was actually a contents page.

“See this?” Catra flipped to a page with a large diagram.

It a appeared to be a large rectangle full of colour-coded squares and was incredibly confusing without context, each square featured a number. Catra's claws extended as she placed pressure on a specific square, number six.

_Maybe I underestimated her..._

“The Whispering Woods is not easy to navigate, you see this map splits it into quadrants. Each one has a slightly different environment, they essentially have different ecosystems. I know that we’re in this one because of that rare species of flower and the type of tree that we’re under.” Catra explained as she kept her eyes on the book until she looked back up to see Adora nodding.

“So why is it so hard to navigate?” Adora asked.

She focussed on avoiding the big question about Catra’s magic, about her transformation and abilities (which was probably a good idea).

“It's because this place is pretty much magic, the biggest problem is that the quadrants move randomly and this makes it impossible to form a single map of the whole area. The shifts are also random, so some quadrants will move after a few seconds while others will move after a year.” She flipped a few pages over to reveal a picture of the plant she collected. She gave her a few seconds to view it before Catra shut the book, putting it back in her bag. 

“So I have no clue as to how we’re getting out of here.” Catra’s ears lowered as she looked about with a depressing expression.

“Well, we can only work together and try. Do you think a compass would work here?” Adora thought about her experience with camping, Razz taught her a lot about nature and constellations, ways to find home.

“Well, I don’t think it would work, I think magic affects the magnetic field so…” Catra answered.

“I thought you didn’t like physics.” Adora tried to lighten the mood a bit.

“Tch. Not the boring kind that you study. I study this shit instead,” Catra said, she fidgeted with the grass beside her while she looked at her fur.

“Fair enough, this magic stuff sounds really fascinating,” Adora smiled.

“Yeah, fascinating enough to get me killed for knowing about it or fucking with it,” she huffed, picking herself up off of the floor as she began walking.

“If we want to survive then we need to keep moving.” She fidgeted with the straps of her bag.

Adora followed her.

A few minutes of walking in awkward silence elapsed before Adora finally spoke up.

“So, since we’ll be stuck together, we should probably get to know each other…” She spoke hesitantly. If she asked the wrong question then Catra might storm off or abandon her or something, Adora wanted to avoid that possibility.

“Why? Wouldn’t that make you feel guiltier when you hand me in?” Catra spat.

“I told you I would never do that to anyone. That’s cruel,” Adora was feeling frustrated by Catra’s lack of listening.

“Look, I-I think I’m magic too…” She spoke at nearly a whisper.

Catra stopped. She spun to face Adora, her eyes analysing Adora’s current form. She looked… Angry. Something that was said had truly set her off, a low growl came from her as she clenched her jaw. 

Catra extended her claws as she stepped in front of Adora.

“I don’t fucking think so. If you're saying this because you want to be all buddy-buddy with me then it’s not happening, I know what you’ll do to me, you don’t care, no one ever has and no one never will. So stop pretending,” Adora had never heard someone's voice be so quiet yet full of rage.

“I told you I’m-” Adora was cut off by Catra gripping the blonde by her ponytail, exposing her throat as her head tilted back.

She shrieked, the feeling of tugging at her scalp overwhelmed her for a second. She felt her eyes water due to the tension. Adora could easily overpower her. Easily. But she didn’t want to hurt her.

_I can handle this._

“Do you think being an abomination is cool or something? I am _nothing_ like you. I will never be. You’re a perfect little people pleaser. You couldn’t be fucked up even if you wanted to,” Catra hissed into Adora’s left ear.

_A-abomination? Is that what she thinks?_

“One word of this and I _will_ slit that pretty little throat of yours.” Catra just barely scraped one of her razor-sharp claws against Adora’s jawline. She gulped. Adora’s eyes began to glow, her surroundings became brighter.

_Enough is enough._

“No.” Adora pushed her off. She felt a burning sensation as Catra's claw scaped through Adora's skin during her fall.

Catra lost her centre of gravity. In her effort to regain it, she ended up landing shoulder first into a shrub of thorns. Their spikes forced a shudder through her spine, causing her to wince and shriek. She tugged her shoulder, trying to escape the thorns that began encompassing her forearm. Every tug led to more and more thorns digging into her.  
Adora saw the struggle and tried to intervene, she grabbed Catras other arm and pulled, causing the spikes to only dig deeper and scrape her skin even more.

Catra screamed, her voice breaking.

Those thorns were the size of human fingers, each of them digging into their prey, blood seeping because of them. With a grunt, Catra dived into her pocket -- searching for her knife.

As she cut through the vine of winding spikes around her arm, she only found more pain. The plant released some kind of chemical that caused a feeling of acid burning through Catra's arm to form. As she stopped, it was already too late, half of her body was entangled in the shrub and it was beginning to make its way around Adora's ankles.

"Adora run! Get away from it before it gets you!" Catra screeched.

"No! I'm not leaving you." Adora kicked away the approaching spikes of agony. She tried to pull Catra out again but was unsuccessful so she tried another approach. She focussed on one part of it and ripped it off but noticed how quickly the rest was moving.

Catra stopped struggling as she felt weaker and weaker. Her mind was becoming numb and dizzy. A feeling of pins and needles spread across her entire body as she gave up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found it hilarious that I had to google "the anatomy of a flower" for this one after realising that I had no idea how to describe one, let alone create a whole new species lol


	7. Tangled in questions.

Catra's physical state cascaded as she became unable to talk.

_Is this really the last thing I see? Those stupid blue eyes… Is this the last thing I feel? Pain… Makes sense, I’ve been living on borrowed time all these years..._

“Stay with me, okay?” Adora’s voice was tender but raspy.

_I can't believe I did this! I pushed her! I can’t leave her after I did this… I did this. This is my fault… My fault-_

Catra’s eyes began to shut against her will -- her body was completely limp. At least now, when Adora tugged, Catra couldn’t feel any pain - or scream because of it – but her body was still being aggressively scraped as the spikes shredded through her skin. The sight of blood was beyond enough to freak Adora out.

“I can’t- I’m not letting you go…” Adora felt a warm tear stream down her cheek. Catra could let go, but Adora was going to be there to vehemently fight for her.

Adora’s muscles tensed as they did everything they could, but that wasn’t enough. She wasn’t enough.

That set Adora off, she released a wild yell, causing her throat to ache. If a heart could implode inside of someone’s chest then it would’ve done that -- Adora felt like she had been electrocuted. Later a warm feeling washed over her. Something cold wrapped around the skin of her right forearm.

The blonde looked down, muscles bulging through her letterman jacket. The fabric was practically begging to be put out of its misery.

She tugged Catra’s body again, ripping the roots of the shrub along with it, her sheer strength caused her to accidentally jump as the force she lifted with was so powerful. She heard something… Someone. Adora immediately turned around, carrying Catra (bridal style) in her arms with parts of the shrub still entangled in Catra.

Her grip flexed as she noticed the two men in front of her. They were wearing the same cloaks, their hoods down for Adora to see their faces.

Dreadlocks hung down to the shoulder of one of the men, they appeared to be older – somewhere in their late thirties. The other gentleman had short hair, a striking moustache and was noticeably smaller than the other. Their height difference complemented each other beautifully.

Adora felt like a giant, last time she checked the men were fairly tall and somehow she has to look down... 

“We’re not here to hurt you, look,” they showed their palms in response to Adora’s grip on Catra.

"Here." They approached, slowly and carefully, helping Adora remove the pieces of shrub stuck on Catra's body. They kept checking Adora's face for some kind of expression but couldn't work it out.

"Don't worry, we practice magic too," the moustache guy said.

“We can help, we can make her an antidote, come with us,” the taller person said, his voice seemed kinder.

Adora nodded. She didn’t know what else to do. She couldn’t make it back, without a way to efficiently navigate, and she couldn’t risk Catra’s life. There was no other option. If Catra was poisoned - as the mention of an antidote suggested that - then Adora couldn’t make her way back without running out of time.

They began walking, Adora following behind them.

_There’s two of them and one of me. What if they attack us? I know I'm skilled in combat, but they might be too. What if they-_

“By the way, this is George. I'm Lance,” the tall one said cordially.

“We're historians. We primarily study magic and its history,” George spoke frankly.

"You're safe with us," he added.

“Well, I’m Adora. She’s Catra,” She gently took out a few of the thorns left in Catra’s skin while carrying her and managing to walk at the same time with ease.

“We haven’t seen a real Magicat before… We thought they were extinct.” Their eyes were on Catra's cat ears and tail.

“Well _some_ of us thought they were extinct, I believe that they live underground,” Lance bickered and received a scoff in response.

“What’s a Magicat?” Adora interrupted.

“They're a race of cat-like creatures, they used to be out in the wild about five hundred years ago. However we haven’t seen any account of them since,” George explained.

_Where is she from?_

“Oh… Well, I’m not very familiar with this magic stuff, my friend here is really into it. She loved reading about it.” Adora looked at Catra’s eyelids. There was a multitude of scrapes across one half of her face. She gulped as Catra flooded her mind. The guys shared a smile.

“How did you two even meet?” Lance looked at his tracker pad.

“At school-” Adora was baffled by the question.

_What are they implying?_

“How? They would never let someone with _that_ form enter a school,” George turned to face her as they stopped walking.

“Because she is normally y’know… A human…” Adora answered, even more confuzzled. She just looked back at George with an awkward tight smile.

Lance and George looked at each other, exchanging a strange glance, it was a heavy mix of fascination and confusion. The short one held his mouth open to say something. But, no vibrations left his vocal cords, nothing.

"Do they not normally do that?" She mumbled.

"No, they do not do that." George managed to answer her question.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

They reached a part of the woods and suddenly stopped. Adora watched in awe as one of them drew a _'circle thing'_ in the air. It featured strange lines and shapes within it, and after a few seconds, a wall of light surrounded them.

_Is that how they do magic?_

As the light dissipated, a temple-like formation appeared before them. The architecture was absurdly sharp and clean, Adora had never seen such materials before.

"We use spells to hide our location." They stepped towards what looked like a wall with strange constellation-like carvings on it. They were not constellations, they were... _Words._ Words that Adora was somehow able to read.

"Et-" Lance was about to speak.

"E-Eternia?" Adora's brows drew together, her mouth agape.

Lance spun around, now facing her, his eyes widened as he looked at Adora and back at the 'wall', which began to glow. It split in half and parted like a sliding glass door to reveal a large room.

His gaze was met with a shrug.

The interior of the building was warm and soft in contrast to the exterior, with shelves full of books and drawers were lined along the walls. Everything had an amber glow to it, it felt inviting, like a real home rather than an outpost of sorts.

_Woah..._

In the centre were two couches, facing opposite each other. At the far end was a staircase revealing a second level and an additional row of bookshelves, beneath it was an altar-like brick of stone in front of a triangular door.

"Right, we have a small spare room over here," Lance slid a door (that had the appearance of a bookshelf) aside. 

"While you're doing that, I'll find the right antidote." George disappeared.

It revealed a small room which featured a bed, chair, trash can, desk and an empty bookshelf. Adora placed Catra's body on the bed gently. The loss of her touch on Adora's skin was eerie, it's temperature was the last thing to remind Adora that she was in fact, not deceased.

She placed her backpack on the floor.

The blonde grabbed a pillow and gently lifted Catra's head above it, her thumb caressing her cheek.

"Don't worry, she'll be okay." Lance rubbed her shoulder and sat down.

Adora knelt by her side until George appeared at the door frame with a small vial and medical kit.

Staring at the vial, she realised how protective she felt. 

"Do you want to do it?" He offered Adora.

"Um... Yeah." She took it and set it beside Catra's body, opening the kit and finding antibacterial prep pads.

"It will need to be administered intramuscularly," he explained.

Adora responded with a quick nod, she was familiar with injections, as Razz got older she needed more and more of them and relied on Adora to help. She had also been a first aider since grade nine, her original goal was to become a carer/nurse.

The injection site she chose was the thigh, the vastus lateralis muscle to be exact, she threw on a pair of gloves, raising Catra's shorts to reach it and cleaning her furry skin.

On the other hand, George and Lance were discussing something that Adora couldn't hear over her thoughts. Lance left the room to grab his laptop while George stayed behind, examining Adora's technique.

"Twenty milligrams," he instructed. He was resting his back on the wall, arms crossed as he watched.

She tore open a pack of two sterile syringes, sanitising the vial and piercing the top with one of them. She then extracted the antidote, taking out the syringe, she carefully swapped the needle for a thinner one.

Bubbles floated to the top of the needle as Adora tapped it, releasing them until a small drop of the antidote formed at the end of the needle.

Lance entered the room, placing his laptop on the desk and clicking away.

She pinched Catra's hot thigh and took a deep breath before delving the needle into her muscle, slowly releasing the medicine into Catra's system. She eventually removed it, placing a band-aid over the injection site and massaging it.

"You've done this before?" George asked with a single brow raised.

"Yeah, I've to inject my grandmother's medicine for her nearly every day since I was a kid." Adora took another antibacterial wipe and began to clean the rest of Catra's cuts.

"How is she?" He helped Adora throw away the syringes and used supplies.

_I hope Razz isn't worrying about me now... But there's no way to contact her._

"She's doing well," She smiled.

She stood up, stretching her knees and throwing her gloves in the trash can. 

"So, I've checked over our records and haven't found anything regarding a Magicat being able to transform." Lance looked at his screen.

"The only explanation could be... A curse?" He continued.

"Or some kind of mutation..." George twirled his moustache in thought. 

"Did she tell you anything about it?" He asked Adora.

"She refused to talk about magic most of the time. The only thing she told me was that... She was reading this." Adora opened her backpack, revealing the 'sappy romance novel' and receiving a chuckle before she opened it to reveal the real contents.

"She avoided talking about the whole Magicat thing," she said.

George leant over Lance's shoulder as they read the first few pages and realised something. 

"I can't believe you used to think that's what it looked like," George chuckled, pointing at a diagram.

"And I can't believe you used to write like _that_ ," His partner pointed to something.

It took a while for Adora to figure it out.

"Did you two write that?" Adora questioned.

"Yeah, but this is one of our first pieces, I don't know where your friend could've got this," Lance shut the book, handing it back to Adora.

She glanced back at Catra, noticing her shiver.

Taking her coat off, Adora's arm revealed a strange piece of gold-like metal covering her forearm. It held a small blue jewel. She placed her jacket over Catra and turned back to the historians, who were documenting the fact that they found a Magicat.

"I think I'm magic too." Adora showed them her arm.

"It can't be-" George cut himself off, staring at the weird piece of metal attached to her arm.

"She-Ra," Lanced touched the metal, thinking that it wasn't real for a second.

Adora awkwardly looked around the room in silence. She gave herself an excuse to check on Catra, only to see her lying there in the same position as before, still shivering.

"That's really her." Lance zoomed in on an image with a carving of a tall woman, who wore the same thing on her arm on his laptop.

"So... I'm She-Ra?" Adora bent her back to get a better view. 

"The Princess of power," George followed up. 

"And a healer, which may mean that you could help your friend," Lance smiled.

"If she knew how to use magic." George looked at the image.

"It wouldn't hurt to try? Right?" Adora asked, her voice was far quieter than usual.

"We could try to teach you but She-Ra's magic is... Different. There are 'types' of magic, and we can't use She-Ra's one unless we were born with it." Lance explained, keeping it simple.

"Maybe... If your friend is familiar with transforming and with magic then she may be able to help you," George added.

_But would she let me help her?_

"Yeah, you two use a similar type of magic to transform," Lance smiled, giving Adora hope, Catra was incredibly well informed when it came to magic so there may be a real chance for her.

_Why would she not want to be healed? Surely she would want to get rid of the scrapes and cuts... The pain._

"Yeah," Adora had a wide smile on her face, gently tracing the fur on Catra's arm. She was boiling hot but some people can get a temperature after being poisoned -- Adora was still concerned.

"Is she supposed to be this hot? Could I check her temperature?" Adora asked.

"The type of toxin that the plant gave out shouldn't cause an increase in body temperature, something else must be happening," George answered, opening the medical kit from earlier and handing Adora the thermometer.

"These cuts are too recent to cause an infection, so it can't be that," he thought aloud.

She gently placed her hand on Catra's chin - as if she was a fragile piece of glass - and carefully opened her mouth, admiring Catra's canine teeth. Her lips parted. She placed the thermometer over her tongue and tenderly closed her mouth.

A minute elapsed before the beeping began, Adora didn't think she read the number right.

"114 degrees Fahrenheit..." Adora read aloud.

"That can't be right." George took the thermometer and read it.

"What should I do?" Adora asked.

"Give her lots of rest and water, there isn't much more you can do," he replied.

George looked at his tracker pad, checking the time.

"She should be awake soon, we don't want to scare her. Let us know if you need anything." He gave a brief smile before opening the door for Lance and his laptop to leave.

_What do I even say when she wakes up? 'Hey um, I'm an eight-foot-tall princess thing and I trusted some weird dudes to inject you with shit and'-_

Catra's leg twitching was enough to shake Adora out of her thoughts.

Adora sat in silence as a gentle whimper escaped Catra's lip, her body tensing as she turned onto her side - gripping Adora's jacket and delving her face into it, sniffing it - while she curled up into a ball.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yall ever have the feeling of your writing just... Not sounding right? Idk it just keeps happening lol. Maybe I'm forgetting how to write lol


	8. Shortcircuited.

Adora's hand had gone to reach out over Catra's shoulder but stopped in its tracks. It hovered over her for a little bit before she retracted her hand. Catra tossed and turned before ending up opposite Adora, her face still buried in that sweaty, Adora-scented, jacket. Her fur became messier as she dug her face in more -- as well as it sticking onto her skin.

Adora couldn't do anything about Catra's fever, but that didn't stop her from feeling like garbage about it.

"Catra? You awake?" She sat by her side, her hand resting on the mattress.

She never received an answer.

_If I could just figure out how to heal... I can't do anything for now. She probably wants space and sleep -- maybe I should stay, if she wakes up then she'll freak out... But I should ask George what to do because she looks even hotter and I can't detransform._

Adora had begun to lift her knee from the ground to stand up, taking a step forward, she kept her eyes on _her_ the entire time. Having to watch someone that always seemed so 'tough' be in such a weak - vulnerable - state was beyond foreign. Part of Adora liked it, in a way, she had front row seats to another side of Catra, one that she probably would've never seen without the current circumstances. However, Adora hated the fact that Catra didn't willingly show her - she was forced to - and that almost made the moment feel disingenuous.

Adora made it to the door frame as she took one last look of Catra in, burning the image of her suffering into her retinas. She decided to leave, against her want to stay and watch over Catra, she needed answers.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

"Thanks for having me! Wildcat is doing that thing again..." Scorpia's smile faded slightly before returning to its usual luminous glow.

Entrapta's room was practically a lab, technology everywhere, her walls painted in black chalkboard paint which allowed her to scribble all over her four walls -- numbers and funny symbols were everywhere. While Scorpia talked, Entrapta was fidgeting with a green piece of metal in front of her beast of a computer. Everything in that room was customised for Entrapta's use.

"The one where she completely ignores you? My analytics say that's not a thing friends are supposed to do..." Entrapta seemed absent-minded.

"I-I mean... Yeah. But she's probably got a lot going on," she sighed.

"I'm pretty sure I did a study on that," Entrapta scratched her chin, stepping towards her keyboard, typing quickly before she landed on a file titled: 'Social interaction and the exploration of the pSTS & the broader temporal lobe'.

Her academic paper is projected across all four walls of her room, featuring graphs and tables which did nothing but confuse Scorpia with an overload of text.

"The data clearly shows that the refusal of acknowledgement towards an individual causes a strain on both parties. This is exhibited in this case study where one of my subjects 'ignored' one of their companions after they quote-unquote 'ruined movie night' with their 'lack of manners'. This led to both parties becoming upset/distraught as they neglected one another," Entrapta rambled.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

"And that is She Ra's history, is there anything else?" Lance smiled, passing by the mural of her.

Dark grey lines began to flood with a glowing gold and azure colour, following Adora and enveloping the room with a striking light. Even the thin, crosshatching, lines began to shine as they showcased every tiny detail of She Ra's bulging biceps, leading Adora's focus from the murals biceps to her own, she flexed.

As she retrieved her focus, her mind wandered back to a familiar face, one with a beautifully untamed mane and giant sideburns a shade lighter than the rest of her hair.

"Yeah, could you tell me more about the Magicats?" Adora asked.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Scorpia gave her the routine deadpan expression as she sat in confusion, hoping for a simpler explanation.

"In layman's terms, the person ignoring you feels just as bad as you do and our subject, 'Glimmer', confirmed that her actions had negative intent, but our sample size is so small...," Entrapta continued.

"However, Catra has always appeared to be an outlier in my statistics, so I can not confirm that these results accurately reflect her response..." She hummed.

"Wait, was this the science thingy we did last year on Adora and her buddies?" Scorpia asked and received a nod in response.

"And by the way... You two would make a wonderful couple." Scorpia smiled.

Entrapta turned to face her, confused, she stood there completely deadpan.

"Couple?" She stared.

"Yeah, you asked for her number, remember? I can be your wing-woman if you want!" Scorpia excitedly bounced in her seat.

"Oh, no that was for Catra, she asked for Adora's number." She turned back towards her tech, picking up the same metal chip as earlier.

"Do you think shes... Trying to date Adora?" Scorpia smiled.

Scorpia had the largest database of everyone's phone numbers, this made it the easiest way to retrieve Adora's contact information rather than meticulously hacking into social media and getting it that way after all her and Scorpia were friends according to the data she had.

"Well, their compatibility score is low in my statistics, but then again, Catra has always been an outlier, I have never been able to rationalise her actions..." Entrapta pulled up another graph.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

"Could I read some more?" Adora looked at the book in Lance's hand, his response being a mere action: passing the book over to her.

George entered the room, wearing a grey apron and a baking glove.

"Dinner's ready, vegetable soup tonight." He left the room.

_Why is he wearing a baking glove if he cooked soup? I know the saucepan gets hot, but it isn't that bad -- Razz didn't even have baking gloves at home..._

"Would you like me to bring you a bowl?" Lance was about to follow in Georges direction as he awaited Adora's response.

"Yeah, please," she politely accepted.

Adora spent the rest of the evening slurping soup, worrying about Catra, staring at Catra, and reading about Catra's race. Meanwhile, she occasionally moved or twitched in bed, still in a weird state of being 3/4 asleep and 1/4 awake-ish. One page of Lance's book caught Adora's blue orbs in particular.

"Increase in body temperature, during a... Heat cycle? What's a heat cycle?" Adora mumbled to herself, turning the page and reading on aloud.

"During mating season, a female Magicat may experience symptoms of a heat cycle which may include: _uneasiness, a general feeling of weakness, aching pains, a severe increase in libido, increased-_ " Adora kept reading on, revisiting memories that may have pointed out certain symptoms...

 _That can't be right... Right?_ Adora tried to puzzle everything together.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Adora grabbed a spare pillow and was ready to sleep on the floor, she was given a tracker pad and the time read _23:09_. Adora had already worked out earlier and prepared for bed in advance. To make the decision of sleeping on the floor came to her mind first but she also had the idea to lay beside Catra -- to wrap her protective arms around her defenceless body, to shield her from the harsh world.

 _I'd probably be overstepping her boundaries..._ Adora thought, pressing her knees to her chest as she squeezed She Ra's giant eight-foot-tall body together on the floor.

She couldn't sleep like that, it was so unbearable, she had half a mind to sit back down at the desk and read but she also wanted to...

To lay beside Catra.

So Adora did so. Her knee grazing the cotton fabric covering the mattress, her body tying - and failing- to not disturb the surface with its weight, forcing potholes to form in Adora's path while she awkwardly clambered beside Catra.

Though Adora gave Catra space, she somehow ended up spooning her, Catra simply followed her scent. Her ears burnt as Catra dug her nose into the blonde's neck, sniffing her.

Catra was still scathing hot, _in terms of temperature of course_...

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Thrashing, something was thrashing around in Adora's arms as she woke up in a drowsy state. Mewling ensued as Catra struggled, her legs and arms kicking against Adora's body as she tried to vocalise something. Adora held her tightly, her muscular figure having no issue with holding Catra's struggling body.

_A nightmare?_

"You're okay, you're safe. Nobody can hurt you." Adora whispered the mantra, her arms gripping Catra's back.

The catgirls eyes gently opened for the first time, the low light conditions soothing her as she stopped struggling, not realising that she was in Adora's arms until she took another whiff of her scent in. Instead of running away, screeching and scratching, her brain short-circuited and kept her where she was. She completely froze up but the warmth of She Ra's body melted her, alongside her protective scent and the buzzing of Adora's gentle voice.

Something made her molars and canine itch, - hearing a ringing sound in her ears - it felt like they would fall out if she didn't bite something then and there, so she did. She briefly aligned her forearm under her teeth before biting down and drawing blood.

A feeling of refreshing cold slid down her body. The ringing stopped as Adora let go of her back and looked at what she was doing.

"What are you doing?!" She whisper shouted.

"I. Need. To. Bite. Something." Her teeth were still itching, it was less than earlier but it was still a very present sensation that urged her to dig deeper into her skin and muscle.

"Don't bite yourself! Here, you can bite my arm," Adora offered, knowing that She Ra's form will automatically heal itself after she eventually detransforms.

 _What? Why? Eh, whatever, I'll take whatever I can get._

Catra took one good look at the blonde's eyes before digging into her next dish, but being slightly more gentle with Adora's arm than her own, watching her flinch but not retract her hand.

Adora hummed as her arm stung like hell.

"More," Catra spoke like a caveman, allowing her primal instincts to take over, staring at the junction between Adora's neck and shoulder, licking her lips.

Adora gave her a simple nod in response to the gold and blue stare wavering over her, causing Catra to rip her white turtle-neck while in pursuit of access for Adora's sensitive skin and muscle.

Catra dug her claws into Adora as she climbed She Ra's body, moving up to her neck and making a seal around it with her mouth, digging her canine into her skin. This time she took it slow, enjoying every sensation as her teeth gradually became less and less itchy, eventually feeling normal as Catra retracted her claws and teeth from She Ra's form, licking the marks and cuts that she caused with her harsh, sandpaper, tongue.

A feeling of heat rampaged Adora's body, like a wildfire, it spread violently.

The entire time, Adora kept her eyes on the ceiling, burning at Catra's touch the hot breath on her throat. Her once rock hard muscles almost felt like jelly when the catgirl scraped her tongue and lip over Adora's sensitive flesh. It took an incomprehensible amount of effort not to make a sound during the process.

Catra finally felt at ease, relaxing into the gentle pressure of Adora's arm wrapped around the small of her back, going back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright yall, this is a late night upload so Ill probably wake up tomorrow and notice all of my horrid mistakes when rereading lol.  
> Hope yall enjoyed Adora's protecc mode here, I certainly enjoyed writing it.
> 
> Also thank you to 'DrMittens' for the comment:
> 
> A: How did you get my number?
> 
> C: I asked a friend, she's a wiz with tech.
> 
> E: And I asked Scorpia!
> 
> C: Oh no.
> 
> S: Don't worry Entrapta, you'd make a wonderful couple.
> 
> (changed it up a little but I loved the idea )
> 
> :) have a good day/night folks


	9. Catra is the sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all like my Romeo & Juliet reference? ;)  
> (Idk why I even remember that damn quote lol)
> 
> As a treat, I thought I'd give yall 4k words :)  
> Enjoy.

_I thought the afterlife would be worse... Why is my mouth so dry? Why is everything so hot? And why do I feel so shit?_

Adora had woken up to Catra's stirring, her mind forgetting about everything but the gentle heartbeat in her arms.

Catra groaned before a long yawn ensued, trailed by a gentle purr rumbling from her chest. Though she felt like 'shit', she was relaxed. Nevertheless, every movement required the upmost focus and dedication, a simple millimetre took so much effort so she didn't bother.

"Morning, you feeling okay?" Adora's raspy voice tried to be as tender as it could, but it still felt like a fork screeching across a plate -- in Catra's ears at least. 

"Catra?" She rubbed her back. 

_Ugh. So I'm not dead... And why is everything so loud?_

She had opened her eyes, tilting her head back as she took in the image ahead of her. Gleaming sky-blue eyes. Ripped turtleneck. _Bite marks?_... Adora looked a lot larger than she remembered, Catra felt like a grain of rice in comparison to a skyscraper. Adora's (She Ra's) body was near twice the size of her own.

"What the fuck?" Catra placed her hands on Adora's shoulders and pushed herself off.

She looked at her palms, covered in scratches, her eyes worked their way up her arms and down to her legs. The fabric of her sleeves was covered in cuts and dried blood, her legs featuring bandages over what could only be assumed as the larger gashes.

The memory of vile thorns ripping her apart came back to her, the blood taking her memory back to the night before, the night where she drew blood from Adora's skin.

_Did I... Mark her? Surely it's just... No..._

Her stomach dropped as she felt tears form, marking was incredibly serious, according to the Magicat scrolls at least.

"Hey, hey, you're safe. Nobody can hurt you." Adora took Catra's shaking hands into her own, gently caressing them with her thumbs. It somehow managed to calm her senses, Adora's scent had also largely contributed to her feeling of refuge...

"Where-" 

Adora cut her off, "We're safe."

_That doesn't answer my question._

Catra ripped her hands from the blonde, somewhat disappointed by the departure of Adora's touch, "No. Where are we and what happened?" She wanted a real answer, "Well..." Adora started.

Eyes sprinted around the room, the walls, the door, the table... Adora's neck and arm.

_Fuck! I really did mark her! If I marked her then... Wait- Is that She Ra's gauntlet arm thing? Is she..._

"Are you? There's no way... She Ra? You cant be." Catra stared in disbelief.

Adora paused for a second to come up with an answer, "So, yeah, I guess I am." She shrugged. "Anyways, you know the guys who wrote the book you read?"

"No, one person wrote them."

"Well, there's actually two and they pretty much saved us and gave us shelter," she explained, Catra challenged Adora's knowledge, "And how do you know that exactly?" her fur bristled.

"I showed them your book..." She rubbed her own shoulder.

"So you went through _my_ shit and showed them _my_ book? Are you fucking insane?" - the brunette tried to keep her voice quiet but she was fuming - "You can't just fucking trust whoever you meet!"

"No, I didn't go through your stuff-" she shook her head.

"You would've had to if you found my fucking book." Catra hissed back.

A few seconds of silence elapsed.

"They use magic, we can trust them," Adora tried to change the subject while Catra turned around, trying to get off of the bed, "Doesn't matter if they use magic or not, you can't just _trust_ anyone." She tried to stand up.

Her knees buckled, causing her to drop to the floor, she swatted Adora's helping hand away as she leaned on the chair to help stand herself up.

"Look, I'll let them in, you can ask them anything, they really are the authors," She got up, she noticed Catra's eyes on her neck, she felt the bruise, "oh, I forgot about that..." She grabbed her letterman jacket and put it on, it held her ripped turtleneck in place and thankfully hid the mark. Adora gave Catra one last look before leaving the room to find Lance or George.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (time skip)

_Why would anyone want to waste their time on us? Unless they're getting something out of it..._

"Okay, Catra this is George, he is one of the writers," she carefully explained, allowing him into the room. Catra sat on the chair ready to ask questions, her book in hand.

"My partner and I have been writing for years about our discoveries, originally under the name 'Peekablue' to conceal our identities," he explained.

"Anyone could've known that. How do I know you're not just a fake, ready to send us off to Prime," she shut the book, intensely staring at him. _It can't be him. It can not be. There is no way that I could meet the real person behind all of this._ "Anyone could've known about 'Peekablue' if they read the books. Like, nobody names their kid that, obviously it's a fake name."

"If I did then I wouldn't be able to document a human with the ability to transform into a Magicat," he stepped towards the door frame, "if you don't believe me then you can look at my other work, look at the shelves full of artefacts and decide for yourself."

_You fucking told them about that too?!_

"And by the way, there was a person called Peekablue, we met." He left the room, feeling angry in a way, having to prove yourself is just tiring and a pain in the ass.

Catra had tried - and failed - to stand up, her legs felt like wet pool noodles. She was still sore all over.

Adora had a genius idea, to pick the chair up with Catra in it. So she did and ended up with a gasp from the brunette as she clung to the chair, watching the floor as Adora picked her entire bodyweight up with ease.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (time skip)

She Ra's eyes stared at Catra - who was calmly laying back on a few pillows - a part of her wanted an apology after the way Catra blew up. But she knew that she wouldn't get one, _In my fucking dreams..._ However, all she received in return was a strange stare. 

They sat in silence for a few more seconds...

"Fine. You were right." Catra hated to admit that she was wrong earlier.

Adora didn't really know how to respond so she had given her a slow nod, avoiding eye contact. Her mind went back to her form, She Ra's from, she wanted to detransform for a while but just couldn't. Catra was the only one who knew how to use transformative magic, so she would be the best person to learn from.

"So... How do you... Like, control your transformation magic thing?" Adora looked at her arm.

Catra paused, staring down at her fur, focussing on channelling her magic in order to detransform herself but it didn't work, her form fluctuated. Her fur went back into her skin for a second but it came back. She normally had amazing control over her form but something was wrong.

"I-I can't go back?" She panicked, she shut her eyes and focussed harder as her eyebrows furrowed and shoulders slumped.

She had growled as part of her began to look human again before she turned back, she made a violently shaky fist and slammed it into the pillow beside her in frustration. She trembled as she looked at her fists, claws digging into her skin.

"Something must be stopping me." She felt Adora's fingers grazing over her wrists, holding them as she tried to comfort her.

"Well, how do you normally do it? How did you even learn to do it?"

"The person who taught me showed me how to do magic first," she relaxed her muscles, "they taught me a simple light spell. I'm assuming you'll want me to teach you?"

Adora nodded, "Please."

Catra looked at her bag and Adora understood her eyes, she picked it up and handed it to her. The brunette took out her book and a pen, tearing a few pages out and then tearing some of them into two, handing one to the blonde.

"Before I can teach you _real_ magic, you need to understand what magic feels like," she began drawing something onto the page.

"Magic relies on energy transfers, but this way of using magic doesn't need you to use your own energy," she showed off what she drew, a circle with a simple symbol on it, "this is called a glyph, a light glyph."

Adora took a few glances at the symbol and drew it onto her page, she copied it perfectly.

"Now, to activate it, you need to hover your hand over it and focus on an intention," she instructed as she hovered her hand over Adora's glyph, "I'm focussing on the idea of a ball of light." She shut her eyes.

"Your intent is really important in the way you cast," she added.

Adora watched in awe as the paper began crumpling up - it began shining - as it became a small ball of light, floating. Catra picked it up and held it in her palms, watching it drift in front of her. She placed one hand above it and one below, she stretched the light until it completely dissolved in the air.

"Your turn." She handed her the piece of paper with her glyph.

While Adora was trying - Catra kept instructing her - she was giving her clear guidance as to how the spell should go, repeating what she said earlier -- and it was successful. The paper was beginning to form a ball and glow.

"Now touch it. Feel it tingle between your fingers," Adora followed her instructions perfectly.

"When you first transformed, you should've felt something like that, tingling and heat." The light began to dissipate while Adora focussed on it. "Did you feel that?" Catra asked, rolling her eyes as the blonde was amazed by the magic -- similar to Catra's initial reaction of magic as a child.

"Yeah, but it was _really_ intense," she responded, "like, I was being shocked -- like my heart was going to explode," she felt the texture of her skin.

"No shit sherlock, this is a really weak spell," Catra chuckled.

_Wish I could hear that laugh more..._

"Okay, so how do you do your ' _real_ ' magic?" Adora used air quotes, jokingly mimicking Catra.

"Well, I have barely any energy so I can't do it normally..." Catra thought with her fingers pinching her chin as she did so. She looked at her bag again, taking out the container of flowers, clicking open the lid.

"These act as energy in a way... Watch closely cause I'm not doing this twice." She took one bulb of a flower in her hand and shut the box.

"And take notes or whatever."

To begin, she rubbed her fingers together, the flower dissolved as she did so, she formed a nearly perfect circle of light with her arm in the air, her shaky hands didn't help her much so she had to take it slow, "You need to focus on a tingling feeling flowing through your arm as you cast a circle," she kept her focus as she spoke, clearly very familiar with the spell.

Eyes stayed shut during the entire spell as Catra was focussed on teaching and casting at the same time. Meanwhile, Adora was scribbling down notes on her paper, following eagerly.

"Now you draw a smaller circle inside of the big one," she continued to draw with light, still shaking, "and then a line in the middle." 

Wandering eyes caught Catra biting her bottom lip, she was glad her eyes were shut because Adora was heating up, she went back to furiously scribbling notes, "Form a rectangle in the centre, sort of like a handle," she paused on the rectangle part, getting ready to explain the next.

"The most important part, your intention," her brows knitted together, "imagine the symbols from the glyph you cast earlier, the ball of light with it."

"This part is going to be fast, so stop scribbling and focus," fingers released their grip from each other as the flower completely dissolved, "this is also the hard part, put your other hand in front of your face and imagine the line and rectangle thing becoming a handle."

The light that once was a one-dimensional line now began to form a three-dimensional shape, it looked like a real handle, the circles around it also began to expand around the 'handle'.

"Hold the handle, imagine the circles moving with it as you twist," she shakily held it and slowly turned it, "you'll need to punch forward and then pull it back and like, punch with your other hand and release this one, got it?"

"Uh-huh," Adora watched in wonder, Catra speedily followed her instructions in a strangely aggressive way. She froze before giving a toothy grin after the light went through her. Licking her teeth in satisfaction, she held a fist out, a quick 'yes' escaped her lip as she opened her eyes for a quick second, smirking at Adora.

Adora gulped before Catra found her focus again, "Imagine a ball of light stuck in your fist, it's getting hotter and hotter until you have to let it out."

The light was glowing through the gaps between her fingers, it was far more powerful than the first spell. At the release of her fist, the light began to hover over Catra's palm, it was large and it managed to light up a room that was already lit up.

The way Catra's face lit up was beyond adorable, the way shadows evaporated in the presence of Catra's happiness was... So pure. The light sculpted some of the most elegant parts of her face in such an unimaginable way.

_Incredible..._

"And _that_ is how it's done," Catra opened her eyes, a pleasant purr escaping her chest while she studied the light she formed. Eventually, she looked back to see Adora staring.

"Can I touch it?" Adora's finger approached the miniature sun floating over Catra's palms.

Catra nodded with a wicked smirk, she watched Adora hiss and wave her arm about after touching the raw light, "That is really hot!" She complained, still waving her hand about like a mad man.

"Yeah, sherlock." 

"How am I supposed to do that?" Adora asked, briefly looking at her notes and back at Catra in disbelief.

"You're a top student, aren't you? I don't think you would struggle too much, princess," Catra chuckled, watching her in this new situation was new, intriguing.

"I know it's intimidating, but if I - the soon to be high school dropout - can do it then so can you," Catra looked at Adora's notes.

A part of her felt accomplished in a way, like a proud teacher, it felt good to see that someone cared enough to really focus on what she had to say, it felt amazing that her words meant something to _someone_.

_But she only cares cause she needs to know how to go back to normal..._

"You're incredible... But the school system can't see that and that doesn't make you stupid, that's Prime's fault, not yours," Adora smiled, feeling like a motivational speaker. _I wish you could see yourself the way I see you, not as an abomination but as something truly special..._

"Yeah, whatever-" Catra tried to switch back to teaching Adora, "No, accept it, you are incredible," Catra scoffed at Adora.

"Hard to when I've been told otherwise my entire life..." She rolled her eyes, her mind going back to the spell again, "anyways, it's your turn, come here and I'll help guide your hand as you go along." she gestured for her to sit in front of her.

Catra had to stand up and lean behind She Ra's back to see what her hands were even doing, she placed Adora's notes beside her knee, "Okay, you ready?" 

"Absolutely not, let's go." 

"Love the enthusiasm, kid," Catra chuckled, feeling superior for once, instead of feeling inferior and that was difficult to process for her so she just didn't.

Having Catra's hot breath hit Adora's throat as she tried to cast the spell made things a _lot_ more difficult, and it wasn't even just that, having Catra's arm draped over her shoulder and the other holding Adora's wrist caused... A hot feeling to pool in her chest. It was so hard to focus on the tingling of magic flowing through her when she was centred on the heated touches Catra provided.

Adora began to familiarise herself with the feeling of magic in her veins, or arms? It was still strange to her.

"Like this?" Adora held her fist in the air.

"Yeah, now imagine a ball of light in there," Catra got closer to her ear, "getting hotter... And hotter," she whispered in She Ra's ear, getting sultrier and sultrier.

"And _hotter_." Adora felt her breath hitch as she _tried_ to focus on the idea of light.

On the other hand, Catra was really enjoying herself, watching Adora squirm under her touch and burn at her words, which maybe did actually matter. A hot flush spread from her head to the tips of her toes as she gulped, her heart beating faster as Adora was trying to cast.

Catra's head gently shook as she tried to keep her body under control, she bit her lip as she tried to continue instructing Adora, feeling something warm between her legs.

They eventually got there, with Adora looking at the _giant_ ball of light over her hands, it nearly consumed the entire room, it was far larger than Catra's and the blonde didn't even seem phased by it at all. 

If Catra was to cast something so powerful then she would've felt weak afterwards but not Adora... Then again, She Ra was the princess of power.

"Okay, so how do I get rid of it, it's so bright, it hurts," she complained before Catra hopped off of the bed, she placed one of her hands under - and one above - the ball and stretched it into a circle, spinning it around herself. It became smaller the more she spun it, her feet grazing the floor as she felt herself floating.

"How are you doing that?" Adora's jaw dropped, watching Catra smile and take a deep breath while she extended her arms.

Catra felt lightheaded as she consumed the magic, Adora catching her as she finally came back to the ground, "Are you okay?" Adora worried, "Sure, I just absorbed all of that, thanks by the way for that energy," Adora continued to worry.

"That's a good thing. I needed more," she explained.

"Oh, alright." Adora laid Catra back down on the bed, she looked like she was as high as the clouds somewhere above them, in pure bliss.

After a while, Catra finally came back down to Etheria, she sat up and got off the bed as Adora watched in silence. She did an entire light show as she cast an incredible spell, her hands waving and slicing through the oxygen between them, this was far more complicated than the last spell.

Eventually, Catra managed to accomplish one part of a healing spell, only being able to heal one of her hands, the cuts disappearing.

"Wow, is that a different kind of magic?" Adora picked up her hand and examined it.

"Yep, it took all of that energy to just heal that tiny part of my hand. Healing magic is really fucking hard," she complained, "anyways, now that you know what magic feels like, you can try to go back to normal."

"How do I do that?" Adora looked at the metal _'thing'_ on her forearm.

"Get comfortable, it might take a while," Catra sat down in front of her with her legs crossed, her hands sitting on each of her knees, Adora followed Catra's example.

"Right, shut your eyes. So the feeling of magic always comes from your chest, instead of it coming out, imagine it going back in," Catra shut her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Okay, I feel it going in," Adora focussed, "now what?"

 _That's what she said. That's what she said. That's what she said,_ Catra tried not to laugh, she felt something pulsing between her legs.

_Not right now! Ugh why does my body have to be such a bitch..._

"Imagine your old body, removing the extra muscle," she refused to admit how jealous she was of said muscle, and how _'fucking hot'_ it was, Adora had it without She Ra but now she only had more, "take your time with every individual arm and leg, concentrate on your old body."

Catra opened her eyes, glad that Adora's were still shut as she tried to 'alleviate' that uncomfortable throbbing with a few quiet strokes. Though, that only made it more serious... A gentle pulsing became a ravenous beating, requiring immediate attention. Catra felt it building up and up and up... It was like a rollercoaster, building the tension as it went higher and higher until the drop that _should_ eventually come. Catra tensed her leg muscles in an attempt to calm down but it only got worse...

Adora's neck began to glow as Catra's bite/mark healed back up, which she was proud to have made, though she shouldn't have marked Adora in the first place. Then again, you can't revert marking, once you mark someone, it becomes permanent -- in your head at least, but Catra could pretend like it didn't happen now that it's physically gone...

She didn't want to let Adora hear the rustling of her shorts as her hand quietly moved under her waistband.

"Try humming, it might help you concentrate." She smirked, thinking that that move was genius, Adora couldn't hear anything over their collective humming so Catra was free to speed up without a care for the rustling of her clothes.

 _This is so fucking risky. Why does she have to be so dangerously hot?! If Adora catches me... Maybe she'd get involved?_ Catra thought of a fantasy with She Ra's thick meaty fingers playing the main protagonist.

Her back arched as she got into it more, uncrossing her legs and rocking into her own touch.

Catra's humming became more and more erratic as she got closer...

_I want to fucking slam her onto the bed, to watch her moan as she gets me off, I wonder what her moans even sound like-_

"I don't know if it's working," Adora knitted her brows together, scaring Catra into thinking that she was going to open her eyes and see the hot ball of desire trying to chase the feeling of euphoria ahead of her.

Catra's breath hitched.

"No, it's working, don't give up now, you're nearly there..." Catra reassured her, her words applying to her own 'situation' as well.

She tilted her head back and gulped as she tried to silence the sounds that tried to leave her chest.

Every breath made her stomach drop pleasurably, her chest heaved as she tried to keep quiet.

 _Oh Adora..._ Catra clenched her jaw.

Eventually, one by one, all of Adora's limbs became her own, her muscles shrinking. And yet, Catra didn't have enough time to work her 'magic' before Adora would soon open her eyes, so she had to give up early... And try again in the bathroom later, where things wouldn't be as uncomfortably risky.

 _Wow, she's really sweaty. She must've been trying really hard to detransform,_ Adora thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope yall enjoyed some of the spice I threw in ;)  
> I was going to make this chapter a LOT more uncomfortable, (there was going to be so much more arguing too) but I decided to spare yall from it lol
> 
> Im sorry but reading 'thick meaty fingers' made me laugh every damn time.


	10. 'Open fist or closed palm?'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING (ik its mentioned in the tags but still.) Shadow Weavers 'parenting' is mentioned here.

"I'm so glad they have a shower here, I thought I'd die without one, I reek!" Adora joked.

Catra loved that 'reek', it made her body feel all kinds of ways...

The blonde nonchalantly undressed in front of Catra, she was used to changing in locker rooms with other people, to her it was no big deal... However, that was not the case for the catgirl laying on the mattress, she nearly dropped her book when Adora took her turtleneck off, revealing the grey sports bra that held up her _'fucking huge'_ chest -- which was of _great_ interest to Catra.

To sculpt something so beautiful was impossible, nothing could replicate what Catra's feverish eyes were riding, Adora's back and shoulder muscles were so toned - so perfect - and nothing could repel someone's eyes from her form, it was beyond entrancing to look at.

Gulp, she gulped as she felt a hot ball of passion leave her body, causing her to dig her legs together as she fumbled with her book.

"Catra, you okay there?"

Her eyes sped up the endless trails of the blonde's body, finally making it to their quick pit stop at those blue orb, her mind half-working, "Y-yeah, why w-wouldn't I be?" she stuttered uncharacteristically.

"I was just checking up on you, you seemed quiet..." Adora's voice was softer than usual, like a feather gracing the air.

She finally looked at Catra, her brows lowered in concern, "Do you still have a temperature? You look really hot..."

_I know I'm fucking hot. But you... You're..._

"Like, your face is literally red." Adora was in nothing but her socks, her jeans still in her hands.

_Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck. Don't look down. Don'tlookdown. dontdoit-_

It was one hell of a war for Catra's eyes (trying to stay on blondes) while Adora's breasts jiggled with every step, sweat dripped from Catra's temples as she held her breath, her lips parted.

A gush of slick left her body...

Making her way over to the flustered catgirl, she touched the back of her hand to Catra's forehead, "Woah! You _are_ on fire, aspirin?" 

Catra gave her a vigorous nod in response, finally exhaling when Adora turned her back.

Another gush... It felt like somebody poured hot water between her fuzzy legs and down to her thighs, her pubic fur was completely soaked -- in her mind at least.

_How the fuck am I supposed to-_

The blonde turned back to the catgirl with a bottle of water and a pill, a gentle smile on her face as she handed them over.

"T-Thanks," she took the pill, the water was an excellent excuse to look down.

_Holy fuck... I wantwantwant-_

"Right, I'll see you in like, seven." Adora flashed her shaved armpits as she rubbed Catra's wild mane before throwing a towel around herself and leaving the room.

_She is fucking dangerous._

Catra raised her hands to the level of her eyes, looking at her fingers.

_You guys know exactly where you're going. Round three here we go... Wait, no it's round four. Or five? Shit, I've lost count._

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

George and Lance were to equip Adora and Catra with a trackerpad, one which could locate every quadrant and give them a live map of the whispering woods at any second. Not only was this perfect for Catra (who wanted a way to find them again) but also perfect for the historians and the rising rebellion, they could send information about Prime's changes and moves without detection.

"So we're going back tomorrow huh..." The blonde mumbled to herself.

"Yeah," Catra gave a bittersweet smile.

_Frosta is going to be pissed._ She thought, fiddling with a tuft of fur on the back of her hand.

"Do you think anyone'll call us in missing?" Adora asked, playing with the ripped piece of fabric around her turtleneck as she sat by the desk, taking a break from reading Catra's book -- which was incredibly easy to get a hold of, despite Adora's lack of persuasive skills. It seemed that, at the time, Catra was desperate to get Adora off of her back...

"I think I should be okay, Bow and Glimmer thought I was having a study weekend, but I think Razz might." She thought aloud, realising that Catra probably didn't know who Razz was, she explained, "She's my grandma, I live with her."

"What about you?" She asked.

"No one would call me in missing," Catra crossed her arms, sloping her shoulders inwards. 

"How would you know that?" 

_I told Scorpia and Entrapta to never call me in again, so they wouldn't. No one else would bother..._

"I just do, okay?" It was so tempting to just spill out a bunch of venom, to bite back at Adora, she was perfect, everybody loved her. Everyone cared...

_Noone would care, not about me..._

"What about your parents? Wouldn't they call?" Adora innocently asked, before realising her fuck up.

That question struck a nerve.

"I don't have any. I'm dead to her," she saw Adora's pitiful stare - and fucking hated it - "and she's fucking dead to me. Always has been, always will be." Catra wanted to sprint out of the room. However, she physically couldn't, no matter how much she wanted to, she still felt weak, and the fact that she felt so powerless while talking about that demon only made her feel worse.

She wanted to, wanted _so_ deeply, to spit venomous words at Adora, to feel the poison creep through the corners of her lips and overflow elsewhere. To get it out of her system. To hope that she could feel better somehow.

Tears threatened to spill over her cheeks as she thought about it more, about Weaver's torment... She clutched her arms tight, the feeling of her claws slicing through her skin was somewhat refreshing -- the pain was (and has only ever been) her only form of comfort, of hiding her feelings by screaming louder than them.

\- - - - - Flashback start  
"I shall give you a choice." Her voice thundered.

Shadow Weaver's tall body loomed over a tiny twelve-year-old Catra. Her voice was so demanding -- so strong. Anyone could recognise it from a mile away and that only drove Catra further into the corner she was crying in.

The child sat in silence, muffling her sobs, as Weaver approached, Catra knew she was fuming just by the sound of her footsteps, the way the floorboards shrieked with every step.

_She's really angry this time... Please don't hit me there, it still hurts from las-_

"Turn around." 

Knees slid across the floor as Catra obeyed without hesitation, her full body turning from the corner.

"Open fist or closed palm?"

"Closed palm," Catra said, her answer sounding more like a question as she braced herself for any and all impact, her head hiding behind her forearms. Her lip twitching as every second that elapsed tormented her.

THWACK!

\- - - - - Flashback End.  
The sound of her younger self screaming echoed throughout her mind, reaching every corner, torturing every single part of her.

Adora hadn't looked at her until she heard muffled cries and saw the bristled fur.

"I- I can't. I-" Catra shivered as she spoke, still avoiding the louder sobs that threatened to leave her chest any second.

Adora slowly - but steadily - approached her, her palms open and on display, as she took every step, the desperate feeling to hug Catra overwhelmed her, it was a mental struggle to avoid it, to fight the urge to comfort her... But she lost that fight, Catra's body became stiff as Adora gave her a gentle embrace. She didn't know how to react, how to feel.

"Nobody can hurt you. You're okay." Adora whisper-chanted, giving Catra a gentle kiss on the forehead.

_I-I should run, I should hide, I should scream but... But this feels...Good? Different from Scorpia's -- like these mean something more than just... I don't know..._

It felt safe... Catra was not well acquainted with that word.

It took a few seconds for her body to get used to the feeling before it leaned further into it, her hands now grabbing Adora's and pulling them in even more.

Adora didn't treat her crying like the others did, Scorpia gave her speeches and far too much physical affection, Entrapta gave her a few pats on the back but Adora... Her touch was ethereal. The cogs of her mind finally stopped moving, their incessant screeching came to a halt, it was peaceful for once, no movement... Nothing.

A solid hour elapsed while Catra inhaled a protective scent, her claws digging into Adora's back as she wrapped her arms around her waist, holding on for dear life as she cried, digging her face into the crevasse between Adora's shoulder and neck.

The harsh way her muscles twitched finally remedied, her lip no longer twitching, her teeth no longer clattering.

Catra curled her body up into a fetal position in Adora's arms, feeling tired and dizzy, she slowly descended into a peaceful sleep. Gradually, Adora leaned back and back until she could rest herself on the pillows, a quiet purring left Catra as she fell further into a state of unconsciousness, Adora's mind pleasantly numbing to the sound, relaxing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was so damn painful to write that short flashback (it was originally supposed to be longer but I just couldn't)  
> Childhood trauma am I right?


	11. Dork.

After groggily opening her eyes, Adora closed them again with a groan, she tried to get up but couldn't. The realisation that that warm feeling around her was Catra hit her half-awake mind. Catra's face nestled on her chest, her arms - and legs - tangled around Adora's waist -- her ' _foot claws_ ' - gently scraped the blonde's skin.

Adora opened her eyes again, looking at the scruffy mess wrapped around her, strangely Catra seemed less hairy than usual, though she still had fur it seemed shorter.

_Huh. That's weird, Her ears look different._

She focussed on her freckles for a second, trying to form constellations from them during a mental game of join the dots.

Unsuccessfully, she tried to escape the brunettes grip, causing her to stir a little while still clinging on to Adora for dear life, digging her face into Adora's chest -- which made her pull a tight smile as she warmed up even more.

"Hey, we need to get up," she gently stroked Catra's untamed mane, receiving nothing but a purr in response, "fine. Five more minutes. But after that, we really need to get going."

Those five minutes were spent on Catra, stroking her back and shoulders, giving her chin scritches and watching her tail wiggle in glee...

Eventually, the catgirl realised where she was, Adora noticed her fur puffing up again (to its old length) as the realisation struck in. Her form returned to normal now, becoming hairier and her ears looked longer -- her brows becoming hairier too.

_Oh fuck._

Catra jumped off of Adora, tossing her body off the bed as a result.

"Woah, you okay there?" Adora held her hand out, offering to help the brunette off of the floor, and for the first time, she actually took it, her face heating up as their fingers intertwined.

Catra awkwardly stood in front of Adora - who was still in bed - without saying a word. She meant to say something but nothing was coming out, she kept feeling hotter and hotter, her ears twitching as she tried to communicate. Somehow. Her face scrunched up as she couldn't manage anything, so she wrapped her tail around Adora's wrist instead.

_Ughhhhhhh she's doing that thing where it's obvious how she feels or whatever. Nghjhdhgsjdsjh- Why does she do that so much? I lo-hate it._

Adora had that ear to ear kind of grin, it was so universal yet so unique at the same time...

_Her lips... Stop staring at them._

"Thanks or whatever," she bolted the words out before grabbing her bag, she dug through it while a ton of thoughts ran through her faucet of a brain. She grabbed a pair of sweatpants from the bottom of her bag and avoided tipping everything else out.

"No problem." Adora didn't know what exactly she was even being thanked for but, she took it anyway.

_Maybe she's finally warming up to me._

"I'm going to get changed." She awkwardly tried to leave the room, scratching her neck with one hand while carrying the sweatpants in the other.

_Why did I say that? Why did it sound so weird?_

"Do you need any help or anything?" Adora innocently asked, Catra's brain screeching as she did so.

"I'm good." Her tail stuck up.

She facepalmed as she opened the door, internally groaning as she made her way to the bathroom to get changed, obviously she wasn't going to pull her shorts down in front of Adora.

_She'd probably think I pissed myself by how wet my pants feel._

\- -  
After throwing her sweatpants on, Catra gave herself a moment to reflect on everything, looking at her face in the mirror as she gripped the cold, glossy, sides of the basin of a sink.

_I don't get it. I know my magicat body reacts differently to Ado-hot people but i-it's different. Like, I'm constantly fucking myself raw, it's never been THAT bad before but... It could be a heat but, I've never even had one before and if I was to have one I would've been younger so it can't be. Right? It can't be._

She raked her fingers through her hair, lightly scratching her scalp as she thought, as she tried to figure out what was happening to her body.

"I need to get back out before Adora notices," she mumbled to herself.

Splashing the cold water over her boiling hot face, she sighed, trying to reclaim her foggy mind from the ravishing blonde that caused utter chaos.

\- - 

"Hey," Adora laced her boots as Catra stepped into the room, without a response, she looked up, "you okay? Those sweats look really cool by the way."

They featured hand-sewn pockets all over them.

"I know, anyway, I think my Magicat body is just... Doing some strange shit."

"Huh, what's it doing?" Adora stood up, getting ready to throw her red letterman jacket over her shoulders before taking a moment to think about what Catra said.

_I think I have an idea._

"I don't know I just can't transform back and I-I just feel... Weak and weird all of the time." Catra rubbed one of her arms as she tried to explain without mentioning _it_.

Adora had stood up, she took a few steps toward Catra before hugging her.

"W-What are you doing?" A flustered Catra tried to escape the jocks bear hug, though her body betrayed her mind as a gentle rumbling sound left her chest, her tail raised as she stopped struggling.

Adora tried to give Catra a chin scratch but, that gave the catgirl a way to escape.

"What?" Adora asked, confused. 

"You're shit at chin scritches," Catra came up with an excuse -- though she was lying through her teeth because she _LOVED_ them.

"Well, my pussy loves my scritches!" Adora argued, crossing her arms and tilting her head up before realising how Catra could've misinterpreted that statement.

_Oh I'm sure it does. I'm sure it fucking loves them._

"Your what?"

"No! I-I didn't mean it _that_ way! I have a pet cat and he loves my scritches." She erratically explained.

However, Catra was already laughing hard, the way Adora became beet red was incredible, she was on the floor by the time her roaring calmed down. She wiped the tears off of her face as one last chuckle escaped, "Yeah right."

"You're such a dork," she said, heading over to pick up her backpack.

"Do you want me to carry it? You said you were feeling weak earlier," Adora still felt her ears burning -- her fingers slid over them as she hooked a strand of her hair behind.

Catra raised a brow, looking Adora up and down, "If you insist." She shrugged nonchalantly.

\- - - - - - - - - - - -  
Though Catra was in shape, she found it hard to walk, she was always so tired and weak but refused to admit it (most of the time) so she kept pushing herself to keep up.

They walked together in unison, Catra staring at her trackerpad for the majority of the time. Enjoying the scenery of the various ecosystems and wildlife in the quadrants they had visited, Adora was happily following Catra, noticing her tail sway under the cloak that George and Lance provided for them.

"Everything okay?" Adora asked.

"Yeah, we're getting closer to a really cold quadrant, it's just a shit ton of snow," she huffed, her other hand clenching the cloak tighter around herself.

"You can have my jacket if you want, I'm never cold."

 _I want. But I don't want her to know that..._ Catra thought.

"Nah."

As they approached, the temperature began to drop, not only was Catra still weak and tired but, now she was going to be freezing cold, the hand that held her trackerpad was first to become numbingly cold.

Noticing Catra's shaking and slowing down, Adora took off her cloak to take her jacket off, she placed a hand over Catra's shoulder, stopping her.

"You're shaking, come on." 

Catra rolled her eyes, feeling Adora help put the jacket on her (under the cloak). She loved it, Adora's proximity - and her jacket - led her to inhale more of the jocks scent.

"I'll take the trackerpad for now, you need to warm up." 

"Do you even know how to use it?" Catra scoffed.

"I've been looking over your shoulder this whole time, figuring it out." Adora tilted her head up, "I think I know."

"Whatever." She handed it over.

The sweet warmth of her own body heated up her cold hands beautifully, it felt like walking from a snowstorm into a sauna, it was really refreshing and satisfying.

_I could... No, not while I'm walking. But Adora wouldn't see anything, shes in front of me now... No, I need to control myself._

Earlier in the walk, Adora had a minute to think about what Catra told her earlier, about her body acting 'weird', so she came to her own conclusion based on a theory she came up with.

_So she had a temperature. I think I saw her blush a few times. She had been acting different... The only thing I don't know is that 'libido' thing._

"Can I ask you something?" 

"Can I stop you?" Catra rolled her eyes.

"Uhm, this is probably really stupid but, what's a 'libido'?" 

Catra didn't know whether to shit herself or laugh, her body, fortunately, chose the latter, "It means sex drive, dummy."

Adora stopped talking for a moment.

"I don't get it. So is it like, driving? While having sex?" She asked.

Catra facepalmed.

_You're such an idiot._

"Dork."

"No, it's like, how much you want to have sex," she chuckled, "so a low sex drive means you don't want to."

They walked for a bit in silence, Adora feeling beyond embarrassed, not only for not knowing what libido meant (and how embarrassing that she had to ask someone) but, she also didn't know what a sex drive was and really misinterpreted it.

However, now the blushing made sense to Adora, kind of.

"So, you said you were feeling weird this morning, right?" She took a quick glance at the catgirl following her, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah." She shrugged.

"Well, while you were passed out, I read some stuff from the library and I came across a scroll and a book on Magicats," Adora kept walking -- unable to see Catra's eyes widening in dread.

"And I read about this 'heat' thing and I was wondering if that could be causing it."

Catra froze, her arms stiffly stopping at her sides while a drop of sweat trickled down her temple. She refused to believe that she could go into heat, she should've gone into it at a younger age but, it never happened so she just assumed that it just _couldn't_ happen.

 _Wait- did she notice me when she was detransforming? I knew it was too fucking risky!_

"What makes you think that?" She shakily asked.

"It said there were symptoms like increased temperature, and you were literally having a fever. And you said you felt weak, that was another thing it mentioned," she thought aloud, "oh and you seem to be having mood swings, it mentioned that..."

_She took notice in any of that? She remembered the shit I said?_

"I- I don't know if it is." 

"Don't worry, it's okay, I can help you if you need it," she innocently said as she went to hug Catra again, "let me know if you're not feeling well, okay? We can always stop and sit down for a minute."

"I'm fine, you don't need to baby me," Catra sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope yall enjoyed this one :)  
> I was going to add a lil bit of George and Lance saying goodbye but like,,, I thought that it would be boring so eh.


	12. Assist.

They continued to walk along the tricky landscapes of each quadrant, Adora taking the lead, giving Catra an excellent chance to think more but to also enjoy her surroundings too -- something that she had only seen on paper before.

The only problem was that with every step she grew more tired, her claws digging into her skin as she kept pushing herself to move, to keep playing the charade.

Taking her phone out, Catra snapped a quick few photos of a specific type of tree which piqued her interest.

The tree featured a dark blue trunk with bark that was a lighter shade, it created a beautiful contrast between the colors and reeled Catra in, tapping on her phone as she focussed the camera on the harsh ridges of the bark, she got on one knee. 

Adora turned around, confused as to why Catra stopped so suddenly, she smiled.

"That's pretty cool."

Before she could react, Catra got a mugshot of Adora, chuckling while she zoomed into the photo, Adora rolling her eyes as she playfully laughed along.

"C'mon, let's keep going, we're not too far off," she grinned, lending a hand.

Catra struggled to stand up, tightly gripping her arm as she tried to launch herself into the air, only to stumble into a fall. Her legs felt like hot gelatin, wobbling weakly under any - and all - pressure.

You can only push your body so far until even your own mind refuses to command it.

"Hey, hey we can stop for a minute, okay?" Adora let Catra down to the ground, kneeling beside her.

"You feeling alright?"

"I'm fine."

"You're clearly not, it's okay to take a break you know," she said, a gentle smile tracing her lips, "even athletes like me have to take breaks sometimes," she giggled.

Catra scoffed, trying not to smile - though she failed - as she looked at the ground beneath her.

"We need to hurry up though if we want to get back before it's pitch black." Catra tried to get up again, using her arms more than her legs but the jock stopped her before she could.

"Well, you definitely can't walk like this."

"I bet I can."

"How's about I carry you on my back?" She patted her shoulder, "I'm an athlete after all." She jokingly flexed her bicep, taking the backpack off.

Catra guffawed at an instant.

However, Adora was being dead serious on carrying her.

After she inevitably calmed down, Adora placed the straps over the catgirls shoulders, getting prepared to carry her for the next set of miles ahead of them.

"Hop on." Adora faced Catra with her back hunched over so she could easily wrap her arms Adora's neck.

"I swear if you tell anyone I let you do this." She jumped on with a smirk.

"What? Is Catra too _tough_ to be carried?" Adora got ready to lift.

"Yeah, maybe she is too tough."

"Well, she's really light too." Adora managed to stand up without much of a struggle. The thing is, she got her feet into a good position beforehand, so it was even easier.

"You're such a dork."

"Guess they should've named me Adorka then."

"Alright, _Adorka_."

Adora tucked her forearms under Catra's knees to make her more comfortable, however the catgirl quickly realised that it may be a _very_ bad idea for her.

_My legs are fucking wide open on her back... What if I- And she feels the throbbing, what the fuck am I supposed to do?_

Catra gulped her worries down and tried to focus on _not_ being aroused (which was a shitty strategy because it only made it worse). Adora's neck was right below her fangs, her fingers were interlaced over her chest, Catra's legs were spread wide open for her.

Suddenly, Catra became hyper-aware of the placement of her body, and of the movement that caused her to shuffle up and down Adora's back with every step, the way it felt against her core.

 _I'm such a fucking moron._ She internally groaned.

Catra instinctively leaned her head down in frustration before realising that she hit the junction between the jock's neck and shoulder, taking a pitstop there.

"Tired?" Adora smiled, tilting her head as she looked at her mane, smirking with a wholesome look in her eye.

"Mhmm," she hummed.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

"I think we've finally made it out of the woods." A dull metal fence stood a few meters away from them, Catra excitedly bopped her head up to take a look, she was half asleep for most of the walk.

"You can sleepover at my house, if you want," Adora offered.

"I'm alright-" Catra's phone went berserk.

An attempt to grab it was made though that only caused Catra to nearly fall off, "Do you want me to get it for you?" Adora offered.

"Sure." She responded before realising what that meant.

"Which pocket is it in?" 

"Uhh, the left one." 

Adora lifted her hands up, pointing her thumb and index finger out to help her figure out which side is which, that caused a laugh to erupt from Catra, "You're such an idiot, _Adorka_."

"Stop making fun of me!" She joked, her hand gliding under Catra's cloak, grazing her leg as she made her way up to her ass.

She searched for the pocket in Catra's sweatpants, digging around for her phone.

Those few seconds of Adora's accidental groping threw Catra's mind into a frenzy, her legs twitching, her ears burning and her centre pulsing while Adora's hand drew closer and closer... Until it left.

 _Fuckin' tease._ Catra took the phone, finding a landfill of texts from the past few days finally coming in.

Most of them we're from Scorpia, though there were a few from Entrapta's number.

She got onto the group chat, Adora already walking as she made her way towards Mystacor, she took a moment before deciding what she would say.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - 💖 Scorp Squad 💖 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
_457 unread messages_

Catra: im fine

Scorpia: What happened??

Entrapta: Sounds like something a kidnapper would send.

Scorpia: OMG what did you do to her?!!!

Scorpia: !!!

Catra: im completely fine. not kidnapped. so you can stop spamming my phone

Scorpia: That is DEFO something a kidnapper would say!!!!

Scorpia: Send us a photo! Prove she's okay.

Catra: fuck off

Catra: im muting this shit

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Catra groaned, "Fucking hell."

"What's happening?" Adora looked over at Catra's phone, watching her throw it on silent.

"Those dipshits keep spamming me, thinking I was kidnapped or some shit," she said, going on her camera app only to realise that she was still in Magicat form, "and they want me to send a photo and prove that I'm fine."

Adora giggled, "I'm guessing those 'dipshits' are your friends?"

"Woah language, kid."

"But, seriously, I can't shut them up with a photo cause I look like a fucking cat." She handed the phone back to Adora.

"What if I send them one of me?" Adora asked.

"Hah. Tell em you kidnapped me." She dug her fluffy head back into Adora's shoulder, not thinking that Adora would take it seriously.

She knew she fucked up when she heard a camera click.

"I wasn't being serious!" She tried to grab the phone back, Adora snapping blurry photos of Catra's claws approaching the screen and the jock carrying her with a goofy smile.

"I was joking!" Adora held it in front of Catra.

"I was boutta break your fuckin' kneecaps." She snatched it back, huffing.

"Yeah right."

"Anyways, where do you want me to drop you off?" Adora looked around, they were now on the outskirts of Mystacor.

"There's a park near here, I live close to it," She put her phone back.

"Huh. I've never seen any houses near there..." 

"Yeah, I guess you could say I don't live in a normal house."

"Okay, guide me there, I don't walk here much so I don't really know the area," Adora admitted, she avoided the run down - sketchy - parts of town like the one Catra lived in, especially at night.

\- - - - - - - - - - -

"You can drop me off here," Catra said, seeing a familiar opening of tall trees.

"Here?" 

There was nothing but a dark forest ahead of them, Adora tensing up as she imagined the dangers of entering it alone, anyone could easily sneak up on Catra. And with the way she's feeling, they could really hurt her without too much of a struggle.

"I'll take you further up to it, looks dangerous here."

"I'm fine. You can let go of me now." 

Adora dropped her arms from Catra's legs, bending down so she could get up and off of her. The least she could do was respect that but, she was definitely not going to let her go alone.

"Catra, this looks really shady, I don't want you to walk here alone in the dark."

"I can handle myself." She started shakily walking, holding tightly onto the straps of her bags as her glowing eyes scanned the nature surrounding them.

Her ears twitched, "Nobody's here, you can go."

"Yeah but I'm not."

"Why?"

"I want to make sure you get back safe."

"Why?"

Adora was now following Catra, a meter or so behind.

"I don't know. Because... I care," Adora said it like it was nothing, Catra's heart roaring as she tried to plunge her feelings back down.

"Well, you shouldn't."

"But, I do."

A second of silence elapsed, Catra's mouth twisting in frustration.

"I never _asked_ you to. So don't pretend like I owe you something," she hissed, speeding up.

The rest of that short walk was in complete silence, Catra trying to figure out ways of getting Adora off of her tail, to somehow get away and give herself some space to think.

"Go." She stopped, taking a glance at Adora as she went through her backpack.

Adora took a step back, making a plan to watch Catra from a distance, she ended up stopping close to where she couldn't see Catra properly anymore.

Her human ears weren't great but she was familiar with tracking so she was still able to stalk Catra from behind the trees.

_Camping with Razz was a lot more helpful than I thought it would be._

Eventually, Catra made it to _her_ tree, which had a few marks over the bark that confirmed that she was in the right place. When she first permanently moved in - after being kicked out as soon as she turned eighteen - she marked a few trees on the way to help herself make her way around.

Grabbing a 30ft length of rope from her bag, Catra made a quick single column knot around her ankle - just in case - she created a lasso, hooking it over a specific spot of the tree.

The plan was to get up to her treehouse without her usual strength.

This spot looked like a tree branch but was actually a chunk of metal (which she drilled into the tree) that was painted like a branch, it was her emergency entrance (if she couldn't physically climb up the tree with just her claws).

She started to climb up, struggling to get up as her muscles tried to give out.

At one point, she nearly slipped, Adora accidentally screeching, "Catra!" as she ran to catch her.

Catra grunted as she fell, thanks to Adora's input, she ended up hanging upside down with her ankle keeping her suspended off of the ground. She crossed her arms with a huff. Her body mildly swaying in the air.

"I told you to go. Did you seriously think I wouldn't hear you? That I wouldn't know that you followed me?"

_I can smell you from miles away._

Adora untied the knot, considerately letting Catra down.

"What would you be doing right now if I wasn't here?" She offered her hand to help Catra up. "Hanging upside down all night?"

"Why are you like this?!"

"Like what?"

"Acting like you care!" Catra closed her palms.

"I do care! Catra, you're _really_ vulnerable right now! You're in heat and in the middle of an ominous forest! Anybody could hurt you."

The bluntness of the words 'you're in heat' hit Catra over the head, she froze, her tight fist opening up as she stood out in the open, in utter shock. 

_She did not just say that..._

It took her until now to fully accept the fact that she was in heat, and that fact really bothered her. She hated accepting the notion that she was powerless over something.

Catra's eyes began to water, her chin trembling.

"Adora... I hate this," her voice broke, her walls breaking down.

"I'm scared," she tried to muffle her cries, "I-I can't control my body for fucks sake, I'm scared that- That-" her voice cut out.

"It's okay to be scared." Adora slowly approached her.

"There's nothing wrong with being scared, I understand." Her steps became more and more gentle, the soil beneath her hardly making a sound -- even in Catra's hypersensitive ears.

"I'd be scared too." 

Catra felt Adora's fingers over the backs of her hands as they grazed her skin, wrapping themselves around.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Adora's house was in a weird secluded area a few minutes away from school, it was hidden behind a group of trees, the house itself looked ancient, it was built many, _many_ , decades ago.

During their walk to the house, Catra didn't want to be carried but couldn't walk very far without getting tired so they met halfway, (the one person walk-assist) Catra's arm hung around Adora's neck and Adora's arm around her waist.

"I think I left my keys at school." Adora tapped the pockets of her jeans.

"Give me a second, I'll climb up and let you in through this door." She pointed. "I won't be long."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so the next chapter may take me a bit longer to write... for reasons *insert lenny face here*... ;)  
> Hope yall don't mind this chapter, we gotta love some vulnerable Catra.


	13. Dozen kisses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, Cats can kinda smell emotion... just something I wanted to mention for no particular reason at all...
> 
> Also - sorry for taking so long, I'm not used to writing this typa stuff, so as an apology yall are getting 4.2k words in this chapter :)
> 
> Just gals being pals in this ~wholesome~ chapter O_o
> 
> I hope yall enjoy this chapter... It was a whole ass ✨experience✨ to write.

Adora clambered up to her window, clearly not used to sneaking in (and out) like Catra was -- she always managed to get past Shadow Weavers security _'shit'_ without being detected, though being a Magicat gave her an advantage, she was still swift and fluid in escaping the house without that form.

"Come on in." Adora took her out of her trance, holding the front door open, her arms extended.

"By the way, don't worry about being quiet, my grandma takes her hearing aids out before bed," she cheekily smiled.

Catra took a self-conscious step in, she looked about the small hallway, plastered with photos of Adora at various ages, this place felt like a real home, like a family lived here -- in contrast to Catra's old place of residence, which, felt more like a model house than anything else. 

"So this must be Razz..." She pointed at a photo of an elderly woman with long grey hair beside a tiny Adora.

_She remembered that?_

"Yeah, she's been looking after me since I was four."

 _To be fair, it's more like I've been looking after her..._

Catra looked at another photograph, a much older one, with Razz, Adora and one more person, "Who's that?"

This woman's features were beautiful, she had a wonderful smile, making even Catra feel nostalgic, though, she didn't know anything about her. _She could stab a bitch with that jawline, damn..._ Catra thought, realising that Adora had similar features.

"That... That _was_ Mara, my mom," Adora's voice was at nearly a whisper, "I never really got to know her all that well."

Catra felt a sort of pity, creating a sort of bond with Adora over a deceased parent (Weaver might not be physically dead but she sure as hell is to Catra).

"Oh." Catra awkwardly rubbed Adora's back in an effort to comfort her.

"It's fine, anyway, do you want a drink or some food?" Adora stepped into the kitchen ahead of the hallway, chucking her shoes beneath the staircase and washing her hands.

"Uh, yeah... Sure." Catra wasn't used to this kind of thing.

As often as she visited Scorpia and Entrapta, it still felt so uncomfortable to walk into someone else's home and be offered food and drink, or even affection. It was still so foreign to her.

She slipped her shoes off and put them beside the rest, taking her cloak off and hanging it over the hooks on the wall. She held the edges of Adora's letterman jacket before deciding to take it off and hang it up too. Everything in that house felt so alien yet comforting to Catra, she felt... Secure somehow.

Adora dried her hands and bent down to the refrigerator, opening it up.

To assume that Catra wouldn't stare would be stupid because she did, looking at Adora's behind, admiring the curve of her shape as she squatted down.

"So since you're all Magicat... How about some smoked ham?" Adora held A thick chunk of meat in her hand.

No response...

The look Catra gave was _intense_ , to say the least. She licked and bit her lip, swallowing her drool as she thought about digging her teeth into the only thing similar to Adora's muscle.

"I'll take that as a yes then." Adora nervously chuckled, somewhat scared by the look Catra was giving her.

The cutting board hit the countertop, with Catra's eyes all over it, her claws unsheathed and ready to pounce on Adora for the meat, it smelt... _Incredible._ Adora chopped a thick slab off for Catra, handing her the piece with fear in her eyes.

_Taketaketake._

"Uh, here." Adora gulped, holding the meat out for her.

The Magicat nearly chewed Adora's hand off as she snatched it, her sharp canine struggling to slice through the ham as she shook her head with it in her mouth, ruffling her hair as she growled, hunching over as her claws dug into the meat to hold it in place.

Adora stared.

The jock didn't realise that she was blushing until she rubbed her cheek, feeling it burn her fingers.

Catra noticed a new smell in the air, even over the strong scent of meat. She sniffed loudly, smelling... _Is she... Scared? And... Turned on?_ Catra hopped off of the counter, approaching Adora and smelling her with a confused look.

"Are you..." Catra got closer to Adora, sniffing her neck.

The jock froze in place, her arms stiffly sticking by her sides.

It felt like an eternity of Catra hovering over her neck, memories of her bites flooding back into her mind... The feeling of it all...

"W-What?" Adora's ears burnt, she nervously chuckled.

Meanwhile, Catra circled the jock like a shark, getting close up at points as she kept sniffing in amusement.

" _Nothing,_ " the catgirl giggled, deciding that she'll embarrass her later.

The jock went back to the cutting board, slicing a few very small pieces and savouring them, enjoying the salty, sour, flavours of the ham. She then cleansed her palette with a gherkin.

Adora kept stealing glances while Catra was slobbering all over her piece, She grabbed herself a drink.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Adora's room was... A mess. An _'organised mess'_ according to its inhabitant.

 _I can't judge, my room's way worse._ Catra thought, shrugging as she looked about.

Adora's dressing gown swayed with her door as it swung shut.

Hundreds of textbooks were stacked up on her desk, her pens and pencils were in old coffee cups, her drawers struggling to hold the clothes bursting out of them.  
Over the wardrobe hung a few polaroids, though the light was dim, Catra could still perfectly see Adora, _is that... Sparkles? And arrow boy?_ All together, their memories of happiness were framed forever, those moments now immortal. Under the photos were a bunch of trophies and medals... Catra cringed, a reminder of something Shadow Weaver did popped into her mind, so she left that train of thought and hitched a ride onto another.

The window Adora climbed through was still wide open, the cold air grazing Catra's fur as she stood by it, looking at the stars above them, watching one of them fall.

"Make a wish," Adora said, her eyes trailing the falling star.

_I... I don't know. What **do** I want? I guess I wish... I wish I could just be happy, someday... I wish... I didn't have to live in fear for what I am and I- _

"You okay?" Adora smiled, the moonlight illuminating her features.

 _I wish I was l-_ She cut her thoughts off to respond.

"Yeah."

Looking back at the stars, Catra sighed, Adora stared into her eyes, fascinated by their colours and the way the moonlight stuck them. The way they would glow in the dim light was entrancing.

"Your eyes are so cool," she mumbled unconsciously.

Catra turned her head to face Adora - smiling - "Heterochromia, am I right?"

"And being a Magicat too, I guess-"

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to come on too strong," Adora burst, nervously giggling as she took a step back.

"What?" 

_'Come on too strong?' Is she-_

"Wait- You know heterochromia means my eyes are different colors, right?" Catra explained.

"Right, Adora?"

"Oh. I thought it meant you were, Um, hetero." The jock rubbed her neck.

"I'm about as straight as a circle, you dork." Catra guffawed.

"Literally _nothing_ screams straight about me," she added, Adora blushing as Catra kept laughing.

"And what do you mean 'coming on too strong'? What, do you _liiiiike_ me or something?" She took a step into Adora's personal space, getting up close as her laughter died down.

"Ah hah huh, uhm, uh..." Adora cleared her throat, Catra loving the shade of crimson red that spread all over Adora's face, she held down a purr.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" Catra chortled as she put her hands on Adora's shoulders.

Adora gave her a tight smile as she tried not to laugh.

"And _you_ call _me_ a dork." Adora rolled her eyes, looking at Catra who was leaning her head into the jock's shoulder, still laughing.

 _Her height would be perfect for neck nuzzles..._ Adora imagined.

Looking back up, Catra wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, meeting Adora's, which were a bright turquoise blue.

"Adora, I think your eyes are glowing... Are you channelling magic or something?"

"I-" Adora's voice cut out, her lips parted as she looked at Catra, her face being mere inches away. She fidgeted with her hands -which were behind her back - while Catra kept staring at her, her head tilted -- smirking devilishly.

For a moment, Catra was utterly mesmerised, feeling something boiling hot slipping down her core as she haphazardly squeezed her legs together.

She unsheathed one of her claws, gently scraping it across Adora's jawline.

Dry, the jock's mouth suddenly felt _really_ dry.

Her eyes darted around the room as she tried to speak, gulping, "I-I don't think I am."

She looked back at the catgirl, licking her dry lips as her eyes took a quick road trip down to Catra's, which were parted. She looked back up to her eyes, which were on Adora's mouth.

"Uhm, could I-" She cupped Catra's cheeks.

"Kiss me," the catgirl demanded with a smouldering look on her face.

Adora vigorously nodded before following her instructions, slowly leaning down as she shut her eyes, mentally preparing for a feeling which still ended up shocking her.

Catra felt goosebumps all over her skin as Adora got closer and closer.

_Fucking tease. Just do it you coward-_

Adora's hands travelled down to meet Catra's hips as she leaned her forehead on the catgirl's, feeling her feverish hot breath all over. She held her position for half a second before leaning further...

As their mouths collided, a tingling sensation surged through Catra's body, her claws drilling into Adora's shoulders as she felt her heart run a marathon, as she made it to the summit of a mountain, as she conquered the world. Her ears shot up. She couldn't even begin to describe the pure, unadulterated, bliss that tore through her chest. Catra had experimented with nearly every drug under the sun and, yet none of them could reproduce this high or the exhilaration of feeling Adora's licentious touch.

Meanwhile, Adora forgot who she even was, her mind succumbing to the blast of endorphins and dopamine rushing through her brain as they numbed the electric spark raging within her.

It was a truly ineffable moment for the both of them.

Catra gently opened her eyes as she felt Adora getting hotter, burning her fingers as she touched, she quickly shut them again as Adora became a blinding light, transforming into She-Ra. Finally, when Adora had fully transformed, she towered over Catra, looking at her hands - She-Ra's hands - which could probably fit Catra's entire head in one palm.

"Woah." Adora looked back at Catra - with a dopey smile - who was examining her new form/features as she purred.

"Don't ruin it, _Adorka._ " 

'Adorka' giggled.

She dropped down to one knee in an attempt to match Catra's height, though she was now ever so slightly shorter, _the perfect height for neck nuzzles..._ She smiled, finally rubbing her cheek on Catra's fuzzy neck.

As if on cue, Catra's purr intensified.

Her insides melted together as she felt an irate feeling of hunger for Adora's lips, so she grabbed Adora by the hair poof and drove right back into them.

One of She-Ra's hands cupped Catra's cheek while the other was riding up her stomach, making it up to her breasts and going back down to her hips, repeating that movement, before finally digging her hand under Catra's long sleeve top. The feeling of Catra's fur was incredible, it was so soft yet so bushy.

Catra bit Adora's lip as they kissed, earning a quiet whimper, which caused her to smirk in victory as her own hands trailed the jock's jugular.

Her tail wrapped itself around Adora's thigh as they continued.

Once they split, panting for air, Adora's eyes sparkled. Catra grabbed the fabric of Adora's turtleneck and pulled her back in for another series of searing kisses -- which ended up with her tongue making an appearance, surprising Adora with its rough surface.

Catra smelt (and tasted) like ham, which only aroused the jock more, it had a rough scent that matched her so perfectly... Her claws ripped Adora's shirt in half, which, was practically begging for it as She-Ra's muscles protruded through the fabric -- and it was ripped already so why not?

"This okay?" Catra took her top off.

"Absolutely," Adora replied eagerly, staring down at Catra's sports bra, helping her take it off.

"Just one thing..." - Adora nodded - "Avoid my back and leave no marks."

_Lilith would be so pissed._

"Okay." Adora smiled, staring at Catra's chest again.

The best way to describe She-Ra's touch would be to say, it had the gentleness of a feather but the raging excitement of a tsunami. One look at the woman would make you think _'step on me'_ , and that was Catra's entire thought process right there. However, Adora was far too soft to ever really 'step on anyone'. Or so she thought...

The jock gawked at Catra's chest, her eyes gleaming while she admired something that Catra found so small and meaningless -- something she never really paid much attention to (except for the _odd_ occasion, but that was Lilith's business).

Adora's eyes made it to her chest fur... _Oh the chest fur..._

'Well? what are you waiting for?"

She took one look at a confused Catra before burying her face into the said patch of fur, receiving a hitched breath from the catgirl, her hands cupping Catra's breasts as she took one last faceful. Then, her mouth made its way to one of her nipples, she looked up at Catra for an 'ok', the catgirl nodded.

A low hum came from her, she tried to take control of herself as more slick oozed from her core, she sat on Adora's muscular knee as she swayed her hips to Adora's tongue circling her nipple.

Pinching the other, Adora moved her knee to Catra's rhythm, receiving a muffled mewl in response.

 _Oh. She likes this... She likes it alot..._ Adora thought, releasing the catgirls nipple to look up at those mismatched eyes.

"Don't worry, you can be as loud as you want," Adora smirked.

_She's getting too damn cocky._

Catra growled into a kiss, making sure to establish her dominance by sinking her fangs into Adora's mouth and using every part of her body to make Adora beg for mercy.

Later, she cut the kiss off for air, huffing it over the jock's throat as she looked about the room in the meantime. Spotting something on her door and having an idea, she stood up, placing her claws over Adora's abs, guiding her.

Then, she pressed She-Ra's body onto the wall, Adora bent down to reach Catra's lips for another kiss.

Distracting her, Catra reached for the belt of Adora's dressing gown, using her body weight to keep the mighty She-Ra right where she wanted her. She had control - or so she wanted to imagine.

"If we're doing this, we're doing it _my_ way," Catra smirked.

Taking She-Ra's wrists together, Catra bound them with a double column tie, though, Adora could probably rip through the belt at any second with her sheer strength.

"I'm all yours." Adora stroked Catra's ego by fake-struggling against the belt -- her eyes ravenously riding Catra's body.

"Perfect. By the way, if shit goes too far, the safeword is red, got it?"

Adora nodded aggressively.

"Good."

Catra grabbed her by the knot of her tie, Adora playing along as she let herself be spun and pushed onto her own bed (with such force that it nearly broke the damn frame).

She-Ra watched as Catra elegantly climbed over her on all fours, a primal look in her eye that Adora could best describe as the look of a predator, one that was about to slaughter its prey in cold blood. There was just something so morbidly dark in her expression...

Placing Adora's restrained wrists over her neck, she broke her hungry gaze to lean down and press a simple kiss on Adora's lips before getting ready for the main dish.

_Fuck it, it doesn't count as a 'mark' unless we do it to each other._

Bracing herself for whatever the catgirl above her had in mind, Adora gasped.

Catra sunk her fangs and canine into the crook between Adora's shoulder and neck, earning a knee jerk from She-Ra, causing a collision with Catra's molten core, which, in turn, caused her to bite even harder.

Adora moaned, loud, causing Catra to now add suction.

_She is relentles..._

Continuing to use the same cheap strategy for a bit, she kept chomping down on Adora's meaty neck to keep earning easy moans, loving the feeling of She-Ra's muscle in her mouth. The jock could feel her legs digging together, begging for friction. 

"Catra-"

She was silenced by a hand over her mouth.

"Please... Catra let me-"

Catra had given her a dark chuckle, cocking a brow up.

"What makes you think I'll let you out of _my_ hold? _Princess_."

"You're _mine_ ," she growled. 

Eventually, Adora had enough and decided to tug down on her restraints, causing the catgirl to give a surprised yelp as Adora rolled their bodies over, now on top of Catra. She-Ra's powerful thighs held her hips down.

"What makes you think you _can_ hold me down?" Adora bit back.

"Pfft. I was gonna tell you to flip me over anyway. I was getting bored." Catra rolled her eyes.

_Oh this just won't do._

"Do _that_ again. I dare you." She-Ra ripped the belt apart with brute strength, her hands were now holding the catgirls thin wrists down.

"Do what? _This?_ " Catra rolled her eyes, smirking with her fangs out on display.

She gulped as Adora gave her a dangerous grin, a dark expression on her sweaty face.

One of Adora's hands held the catgirls shoulder down as the other went over one of her nipples, Catra placed her own over Adora's shoulderblades.

"I don't see you doing anything about it..." She eyed Adora's neck proudly.

In response, Adora twisted her nipple HARD.

" _FUUUUCK!_ " Catra moaned as her back arched, her legs shaking and her core dripping. 

Her claws must've ripped through Adora's back in the process because she felt something wet on her fingertips -- and probably because Adora whined in pleasure.

The cocky catgirl received enough time to regain her energy for snarky comment.

"Is that all you've got-" Catra let out the most pathetic mewl in her life as Adora sucked her other nipple, her tongue twirling around it.

Chest heaving, she got her revenge by tearing Adora's bra off in half, reusing She-ra's strategy against herself -- making the jock place her knee in between Catra's legs in an attempt to regain some semblance of control.

It worked, the catgirl slowed down, grinding up and down on She-Ra's knee.

"Get these fucking sweatpants off of me." She took a quick break, lying back against the mattress.

 _Why don't you try asking nicely?_ Adora thought but didn't dare to egg the catgirl on. Not yet.

Her hands slid along Catra's curves, making their way down to the waistband of her pants, slipping both her underwear and sweatpants off as the jock clambered backwards -- trying her damn best to not fall off the bed (she'd probably never hear the end of it if she did).

Adora's sense of smell was... Decent? Average? But the smell of Catra's slick was _powerful_ , one whiff made She-Ra hurriedly pull her own jeans and undies off.

"You ready?" She watched Adora slowly approach.

"I've never done this before... So um... Bear with me," she said, blushing a little.

"Neither have I, princess. C'mon, I _don't bite,_ " she chuckled, flashing her fangs and staring at her handiwork.

_Good thing She-Ra heals herself... Glimmer would have so many questions..._

Adora smiled, rolling her eyes and shaking her head as she gripped the catgirls ankles, spreading her legs. Just to spice things up, Adora looked dead into Catra's eyes and licked her lips.

On the receiving end, a wildfire roared through Catra's entire body, she squeezed her knees together as more slick left her core.

The jock opened them back up, her hands grazing Catra's skin as she kissed up her thighs, making sure to tease the everloving hell out of the catgirl under her. She wanted her to be a moaning mess before she could even get to the main course.

"Just do it!" She tried to press her hips up but Adora was holding them down.

Smugly, She-Ra taunted, "Can't we ask nicely?"

"Fuck you."

Adora moved herself up to Catra's chest, one of her hands held her down while the other was cupping Catra's cheek, her thumb over her chin, "Just one word. I'm sure you can handle that."

"I'd rather fuck myself." 

Adora watched her claws start to move.

Taking her hand off of her face, her fingers raced down to Catra's entrance - teasing it - "You sure about that?"

As much as she liked to think she was in control, she was, in fact, very much not. A singeing coil formed inside of Catra's abdomen.

In spite, Catra tried to withhold the pathetic moans that threatened to spill from her, that would praise Adora, it was painfully annoying to feel her smirk against her throat. She wanted to be touched oh so desperately but wasn't ready to give all of her 'pride' and 'dignity' away in saying 'please'.

However, her body didn't give a single fuck about 'dignity' so it managed to force a purr out of her, giving Adora the green light to tease even more. Now her thumb was slowly rubbing the catgirls clit.

"Just say it. Say please. It's not like I'm asking you to beg," Adora continued.

This really wasn't how Catra fantasised about She-Ra's meaty fingers for the past weekend, yeah she was pleading in those fantasies but not like this... She hissed in frustration.

Growling as Adora teased on and on, she tried and failed to keep her composure, her body begging her to just give up her stupid 'dignity' bullshit. Being in heat made her suffer twice as much for every second that she didn't just cave in. Every second that She-Ra's meaty fingers could've already been inside of her.

Adora upped the teasing, now just barely scraping the inside of Catra's lips as she kept rubbing.

"Please," Catra whimpered in defeat, her body shaking.

She-Ra finally put one finger in, having no problem sliding in with Catra's gallons of slick doing the job. In response, Catra practically howled in pleasure.

"Was that so hard?" Adora smugly kissed the panting catgirl beneath her hold.

"Fuck. You." Catra's whole body was jerking up and down as Adora added more force, every moan coming from Catra's mouth only drove her to go deeper and deeper.

"On second thought... I think I am gonna make you beg." Adora joked, keeping up her pace.

"Don't you fucking dare."

To shut her up, Adora threw a second finger into the mix, feeling the catgirl's walls clench around her as she pumped in and out, grateful for not only She-Ra's form but for all of the arm workouts she did.

On a whole nother dimension, Catra was making desperate sounds as her lungs hurt from demanding more air. Everything became more and more intense, even Adora was gnarling as she kept going faster and faster. That hot coil in Catra's abdomen was molten lava at this point, begging to pour from her body with every pump.

Laying on top of Catra, Adora now freed her other hand, using it as a weapon of mass destruction (to grind against the catgirls clit) and perhaps bring her toppling over the edge. Though the angle was difficult, Adora set aside her mild discomfort and went further.

Dizziness struck as Catra's eyesight became a blur, she was left with nothing but her and Adora, the outside world didn't dare to exist anymore. Desires? Worries? Don't know them, Catra's entire mind was a clusterfuck of emotions and sensations, barreling towards a sense of euphoria as she got closer and closer to the finishing line.

And then... Adora curled her fingers, scraping Catra's walls and causing an avalanche of relief as she finally climaxed, the world stopped spinning for a solid thirty seconds.

Those were the best damn thirty seconds of her life.

Who even was Catra? And what happened to her shitshow of a life? She couldn't answer those questions because she was finally fucking decimated by a nuke of dopamine and serotonin.

Adora cleaned up the Magicat's mess, satisfied with her work, she climbed back up to reach Catra in for a hug, holding her tight as she shivered, giving her gentle kisses on the cheek and neck as she recovered. Her strong arms encompassing the true idea of safety and security, enough for Catra to finally be vulnerable, enough for her to dig her fluffy head into Adora's chest and willingly accept her affection -- without any snarky comments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody:  
> Me: *hardcore simping for smug Adora*
> 
> Also, wtf do yall call the belt thing that loops around a dressing gown, is there an official name or something?
> 
> I was gonna add a whole thing of Catra being scared of gherkins but I wanted to speed things up a bit ;)
> 
> Also,, this is only my second time writing smut... I don't do it much so I hope that wasnt abhorrent to read.
> 
> ALSO: yall excited for the Lilith reveal? >:) cause I'm fucking hyped to introduce you to this mysterious stranger... (Don't worry, yall will get more hints before her first appearance)
> 
> ALSO if yall want more content... I did have an alternate version of how things were gonna start off but its a really rough (unedited and not spellchecked) outline and focusses on dialogue (and I wrote it at 3 am a few weeks ago lol)  
> \- pastebin link for that is right here if you want that hot garbage https://pastebin.com/XHkc9vP9 -
> 
> \- - - - - -
> 
> And if you're bored, here are a few songs that either vibe/relate to this chapter. (Idk I enjoy finding new music through fanfics at 2 am lol)
> 
> \- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZfCUM1uyvw
> 
> \- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ADKdqcdNqs
> 
> \- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMjQGOfpSo4
> 
> \- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL--KSNxfy8
> 
> \- - - - - - -
> 
> Fun fact: I originally (before I wrote this chapter) imagined this playing in the background: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K09_5IsgGe8
> 
> There is a playlist in the making for this fic btw :)


	14. 'trembled in fear'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok yall, I'm heading back to college in a few days and I will be considerably busier, so I'm sorry but I'll have to make updates a once a week thing :(
> 
> I found this chapter fairly fun to write, so I hope yall will enjoy it :)
> 
> Also, fun fact, in the original version of this chapter, Catra is 'PROFUSELY WINKING' and I can't get that image out of my head.

_HOOOOONK HOOONK_

"What the fuck?" Catra rubbed the side of her head as she squinted.

Still in Magicat form, the sound of a car horn was louder and far more bothersome to her senses than to a humans, she was ready to rip her ears out. Adora groaned, her arms still encompassing Catra's body. Feeling safe in her environment, she tried to detransform to alleviate that dreadful sound.

_Drown that shit out and focus. Focus._

To her groggy surprise, it worked. _It actually worked?_ In a few seconds, she was shifting back into human form. 

_Hnnng. Can't I go back to bed?_

"ADORRRAAAAAA!" Glimmer screeched, elbowing Bow in the arm, "Come on, she's never late, we need to check up on her."

"Get up and tell em' to fuck off." Catra nudged her, hitting solid muscle.

"Ah shit, you're still She-Ra, aren't you?"

Yep. She was still eight feet tall and unbearably attractive. Nodding, she finally sat up, rubbing her eyes, as she was about to go up to the window and tell her _'intolerable'_ friends that she's alive.

"What are you doing?!" Catra tugged her back.

"Huh?"

"Are you _trying_ to flash them or something? Put this on!" She grabbed a random t-shirt from the jocks overflowing drawers and threw it at her. "And hide that fucking thing." The catgirl pointed to She-Ra's metal 'gauntlet'.

They could hear Glimmer's car door slam before Adora stepped up to her window, her arm hidden behind her back.

"Heeeeeey! Sorry! My uh..." She looked at Catra for some sort of help but received an amused stare in response, "Uh, my... My alarm! It didn't work. Cause... My phone died! While I slept."

There was nothing funnier than watching Adora try to lie, you can just tell that she's a goody little two shoes by her inability to conversate when she's hiding something -- or someone, in this case.

"Well, hurry up." Glimmer rolled her eyes, sighing as she crossed her arms.

The catgirl grabbed one of Adora's t-shirts for herself.

"What Glimmer means to say, is that we can wait for you." Bow looked at her, with a smile tighter than skinny jeans.

"Uh..." Adora looked back at Catra, seeing her violently shake her head. "I-It's fine. I can walk, I'll meet you guys at study hall!" She gave them a toothy grin and was about to wave before Catra crawled over and pinned her hand down against the wall.

_Idiot._ She stared at Adora's legs as she hid from Bow and Glimmers view. 

The trickiest part of this... Encounter was trying not to giggle, for Catra of course. On the other hand, Adora was mentally shitting herself.

"Yeah," she grumbled.

"No no, it's fine. Really, it's fine. Okay. Byeeee!" Adora shut the window and drew her blinds down.

Catra finally let out the roaring laugh that threatened to spill the entire time, letting go of Adora's wrist as she balled up, nearly crying.

"What?" The jock giggled along, becoming red as Catra kept going.

"Is that your first time lying or something?"

"No, I lied about stuff before!" 

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Catra stood up.

"Like..."

A solid thirty seconds elapsed as Adora went through a few memories.

"Oh! That one time, when they were serving those gross brown ration bar things, I lied and said I was allergic."

"Adora! How could you do that?" Catra tried not to piss herself as she spoke with a faux disappointment. "Really, Adora. That is _soooo_ baaaaaaaaaad."

The roll of her eyes blew her act, Adora smiled and went to look for something to change into.

"What time is it?" 

Catra picked up her phone, "8:24."

"Oh."

She-Ra sprinted about her room, hastily packing her school bag then grabbing clothes left, right, and centre. The entire time, Catra stood there with her arms crossed, observing the panicked goofball.

"What are you doing?"

"We're gonna be late, come on."

"Why don't you just call in sick?" She raised a brow.

"No, I have perfect attendance. I can't lose that!" Adora screeched.

"Tch, who cares?" 

"I do!"

"You're so innocent, I can't," Catra giggled, taking her clothes off the floor and folding them before placing them into her backpack -- she certainly couldn't wear _those_ to school, they reeked of sweat... And had 'fluids' on them.

"Not after last night," Adora mumbled, biting her lip as she tried to _not_ turn beet red.

"You said somethin'?"

"Nope. Nothing. Nothing at all."

The jock scrambled through her clothes, trying to change into a pair of grey leggings before realising her monstrously large She-Ra feet couldn't fit without (probably) ripping them apart.

"You need to detransform, dummy."

"Shit."

"I love it when you swear-" 

"How am I supposed to do that in time?" Adora looked at her hands, "Last time it took me ages-"

"Come on, sit down and get into it."

"B-But I'm not going to make it on time," she panicked.

"I'll get you there before nine, _if_ you listen to me and do as I say, got it?"

So Adora sat on her bed, rocking back and forward.

"First of all, chill the fuck out, you'll need to focus." Catra surfed through Adora's clothes for something to throw on.

"O-Okay. I'll try."

"Shut your eyes. Focus on the feeling of magic and going back to normal. Like, imagine your muscles shrinking back into their normal shape, and keep doing that." 

She snatched a black pair of shorts and underwear. You can not begin to imagine how awkward it was to take _Adora's_ , but, it's not like she had a choice, hers were covered in dried up slick and were two days old. Anyway, Adora's wardrobe was full of color and was in her dumb jock sizes, her leggings being too fucking long for Catra's short legs and so were the sleeves of her tops.

"Yo is it cool if I rip the arms off this?" Catra picked up one of her hoodies, receiving a quick nod from the shaky girl beside her.

_Oh Adora... How many people did you let walk all over you?_

"Okay, you need to stop, this isn't working," - Adora gulped, trying harder, her face contorted while tears were welling up in her eyes - "stop. Stop it, you're not gonna get anywhere like that."

Placing the hoodie on the bed, she knelt down in front of Adora, grabbing her hands, shaking them, "Stop."

"W-What if I can't do it? What if I can't go back to normal-" 

"I went back to normal. You'll be fine."

"But-"

_I need to shut her up._

Smashing their lips together, Adora did, in fact, shut up, a tear slipping down her cheek as her mind froze, everything on pause. The world must've literally stopped spinning at that moment...

Once they split, Catra caressed the jocks chin with her thumb, "You trust me?"

"Yeah."

"Do you believe in me?" 

"Of course I do." Adora whisper-screeched.

"Then shut your eyes."

As she did so, Catra let go of Adora's chin, she sat on her lap and placed the jocks head onto her shoulder, "Breathe in... Breathe out."

"Now, here." She tightened her grip on one of Adora's hands.

"Focus on the electric-y feeling flowing through your fingers and pull it back, pull it back into your chest." She dragged her nail from Adora's palm and passed her biceps, drawing it to her heart.

"Imagine your fingers getting smaller, your arm, your shoulder, everything going back to normal."

Adora's chest was not moving at all, "Don't forget to breathe, dummy."

Nodding into her shoulder, she did everything she was told to and eventually, she was back to being good ol' Adora. Still hot as fuck, just a bit smaller (and easier for Catra to access).

"There you go, now hurry up and get dressed, I'm not gonna run." 

"Wait..." Adora took Catra's palm into her hand.

Cupping her no longer fuzzy cheek, she kissed her forehead, "Thank you."

"Yeah, whatever." She transformed in seconds, getting her claws out and ripping the sleeves off of Adora's hoodie, then detransforming just as soon.

"Hey! How-" the jock screeched, pointing at her.

"You said I could. It's mine now."

"No, not that, how did you transform so quick?" 

"Had to learn. Not by choice." Catra threw the torn-off sleeves onto Adora's desk.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Once they had changed, Adora was packing books into her bag, asking Catra for the date, she realised her BIG big fuck up.

"Angella's test." Her stomach dropped.

"What?"

"I have a test today, and I was supposed to study last weekend..."

"Cheatsheet?"

"What?" Adora's brows furrowed.

"Do you need one or not?" Catra looked at her phone, texting someone.

"Cheat-sheet? Are you implying that I should cheat?"

"Do you want to pass or not?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Then do you want the answers or not?"

"I've never done anything like that before, it's not honest," Adora thought aloud, "but, I need perfect grades for college..."

"Well?"

"It's up to you." Catra shrugged, she could've slid through high school with perfect grades, if she wanted to -- which she did not. _People need to get their priorities straight._

"I'm bet you don't even need it anyway, you're a smart dork, you know that-"

"I-I... I'll do it." She played with her fingers.

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Catra tapped her phone, dialling Entrapta's number, "Hey, I need a favour." She threw the strap of her bag over her shoulder, taking a few steps towards Adora's door.

"Yeah, yeah. I know you're busy, but I'll get you a Tizzy bar if you do it." She leaned her back on the door frame.

"Great, what class are you in?" Her eyes met Adora's.

"Me?" She whispered.

Catra nodded, biting back a 'yeah, dipshit, who else would I be asking?'

"Angella's chemistry class."

_I can't believe I'm doing this... I'm about to **cheat** on a test! Cheat! Who am I? How could I let this happen?_

"Alright, she's in our year, needs the answers for Angella's chemistry test later today, can you get the answers?" She looked at her unpainted nails, ripping a piece of dead skin off as her phone rested in the crook of her neck.

"Perfect, I'll see you later then."

"Alright, it's 8:50, lets go." Catra tossed her phone into her pocket, looking back at Adora as she left the room.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"There you go, don't throw a moral tantrum over cheating, it's no big deal, _princess_ ," Catra said as she slipped a piece of paper to Adora, ready to leave and do some business.

"And don't be obvious, just memorise them and as smart as you are, don't get a perfect score, keep it realistic."

"Thanks." Adora shyly held the piece of paper.

"Oh, and don't go into class with that thing on you, keep it hidden in your bag somewhere."

"Mhm." She rubbed the piece of paper, refusing to look up at her.

Catra sighed, rolling her eyes.

"You'll be fine." She checked her surroundings, _no cameras, no teachers, no students. Perfect._ Knowing all of the hidden spots at school was great, it was impossible to get any privacy with the number of people enrolled.

"I'm gonna need you to stop doing that." She lifted the jock's chin up, forcing her to make eye contact.

"Stop what?"

"Worrying. I can practically hear it from here."

Finally, she pressed their lips together, it was gentle... Not of the same intensity as last night, but it was really honey-sweet. Somehow reassuring. Thankfully it didn't send her into 'She-Ra mode'.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

"I can't believe I actually did it." Adora sat in her usual spot with Catra during their afterschool 'mentoring session'.

However, this time the classroom didn't feel like a minefield - or like there were literal eggshells on the floor - now that the jock knew Catra, she could freely talk to her. At this point she gave up on teaching her mind-numbing shit, just chatting instead.

"I mean, I didn't _really_ need it, cause I tried the test without it and then checked my answers and got them right anyway but, I still cheated."

"It's not a big deal, don't make it one." Catra was shuffling something around in her bag.

Being anxious was not a thing that she was willing to show, but she couldn't help but feel uneasy throughout the entire day. Frosta was _far_ too relaxed when she made 'the deal', the thing is, she's hotheaded and does _not_ tolerate bullshit.

So, the big problem was that Catra never turned up to her deal on Friday, she was supposed to meet her after the run... And if being late set Frosta off then not turning up at all should've made her go ballistic, but her calmness was incredibly scary. Last time, one of Frosta's goons had the living shit beat out of them because they were ten minutes too slow.

The door unexpectedly opened, Angella walking into the classroom and taking Catra out of her daze, "Sorry to interrupt. Catrina, the principal needs to have a word with you, bring your belongings."

_Well, shit. I have the entire stash on me. So this was her plan all along, fucking bitch. I bet she'll have her minions jump me later too._

"Sure, give me a second." She bought herself enough time to think of something as she packed her stationery back into her bag, sliding the stash in her 'romance novel' as she fiddled about.

_Catrina? I have never heard anyone call her that... It's kind of cute..._ Adora thought.

"Oh, before I forget, here's that book, the one that _you **leant** me_, Adora."

"Huh?" She looked up, Catra mentally facepalmed.

"Yeah, I forgot to give it back to you last week, here." She slid it across the table, "It was terrible by the way, I have no idea what made you think this was even semi-decent."

"Like, I'm pretty sure the dude who wrote it had never met a woman in his life, I swear he wrote something like 'her tits trembled in fear' and I had to put the book down after that," Catra added small details to make her lie seem more realistic, a little trick she learned a while ago.

"But, thanks, I guess." She shrugged. "Bye, Adora."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then." She waved, somewhat confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dont wannnnaaaaaa go to c o l l e g e lol  
> My social anxiety the entire time: 👁👄👁
> 
> Anyways, for any late night/bored readers, here's some tunes to listen to (they don't specifically relate to this chapter but you can apply them to the characters if you wanted to).
> 
> \- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lGqdlvNOXU
> 
> \- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yylWTOZlSc
> 
> \- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGpRWlDpebk


	15. Next time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to add the tag 'idiots to lovers', idk where I heard it but its perfect lol.
> 
> Oh and 'two idiots, one braincell'. wow catradora in four words.
> 
> Can't believe it's been a week, I wish I had more free time to write :(

"I can't fucking believe this shit..." Catra mumbled to herself as she walked down a deserted hallway, all of the students were either going home or were in an afterschool club.

After being searched earlier, she was getting nervous for whatever Frosta and her posse had planned next.

So she was finding her way to the roof of the school, a place that she knew was unquestionably safe, even the teachers couldn't access it without a specific key - or knowing how to pick a lock, because Catra was _not_ going to ask Micah for a key.

Locking the door behind her, she threw her bag down onto the smooth concrete. _Atleast Angella wasn't in the room, don't think she knows about Micah's... Hobby. She would've freaked if she saw the cynos n' shit in my bag._

Laying herself down onto the cold roof, she let her arms relax, taking deep breaths. _Still can't believe he practices too..._

\-- Flashback start-- - - - - - - - - - - -

"I-I don't know where else to go." A young Catra was standing in Micah's office, hiding her arms in a hoodie. 

"Please, help, I don't know what's going on." Tears were running down her cheeks.

"Are you okay?" He tilted his head, shifting behind his desk, attention was immediately given to Catra. They had spoken once or twice in the past, but she had never come to him for help.

"I-I think something's wrong with me." 

"What do you mean by that? Do you need a nurse-"

"NO! No, m-my arms..."

"You can't tell _anyone_." She added.

Catra shook violently, peeling the sleeve of her hoodie up, revealing tufts of fur poking out of her skin. She gulped as he stood from his desk and began to approach. The way she clenched her hand around her arm was... beyond concerning. He already knew of Shadow Weavers treatment and tried to get help but to no avail.

Out of habit, her body sprang back, her back against the wall as she held her arms out protectively. The fur on her bristled, sticking up.

"D-don't hurt me," she stuttered, still shaking.

Micah got onto one knee to match her height, "I'm not going to hurt you, you're _safe_ here, you know that," he spoke gently, causing Catra to let her guard down after a bit.

"Can I have a look?" He pointed at the brown fur prodding out.

She nodded, slowly reaching her hand out.

Biting her thumb, she shut her eyes as he inspected her forearms, running his fingers through a clump of fur, "When did you first notice this?"

\-- Flashback pause-- - - - - - - - - - - -

Shaking her head, she got back into the present moment.

"If she's gonna jump me later, then I better get fucking ready." Catra thought aloud, rolling to her side. Grabbing her bag, she had excavated her box -- a quarter full of 'cyno's'.

Sadly, she was now even lower on her supply, Micah politely asked for a few as his old collection was getting smaller and smaller.

To her advantage, now she had direct access to the forbidden plants, the whispering woods wasn't too far off from her home and she had an effective way to navigate it with Lance and George's trackerpad.

"This would be way easier with Adora..." She remembered the feeling of tingling surging through her as she absorbed the jocks magical energy.

_I don't need that dork, I've done this shit a thousand times without her..._

Magic... It has a bitter-sweet feeling to it, like alcohol, certainly an acquired taste.

\-- Flashback continued (slight timeskip)-- - - - - - - - - - - -

"That right there, is magic, you feel it right?" A ball of light hovered over her palm as Micah taught her about glyphs and how to cast a _simple_ light spell.

Catra was too mesmerised by the glowing ball of energy in front of her to even hear Micah's words. "I did that?"

"Yes, now there's this really neat trick you can do, you know the tingles you get when you feel those pieces of fur coming out?" He smiled. "Try concentrating on that feeling, it should come from the heart."

"I think I can feel it..." Her eyelids twitched as she felt something similar to a shiver run through her shoulders and to her arm.

She opened her eyes to see more fur.

"I want you to try and focus that sensation into that ball of light, okay?"

"Okay." She nodded, meekly.

Immediately, the ball of light expanded, Catra could feel it getting hotter, so she opened her eyes.

_I-I did that?_

"So, now do the opposite. take the tingles out of that light, drag them back into your heart."

\-- Flashback pause-- - - - - - - - - - - -

Grumbling, she took a few of the flowers, grinding them up and scattering them into a shape, a light glyph, a large one. Eventually, she gave it her intent, watching the light form something around the size of a football.

She took its magic in, feeling more powerful as she kept repeating a few simple steps. _Flower. Glyph. Ball. Take._

Knowing that any advantage _must_ be taken in a street fight, she kept intaking magical energy. Magic was her ultimate advantage, if Frosta's minions were to attack her, then she could knock them out and wipe their memory.

Memory wiping spells were pretty advanced, and therefore, required a lot of energy and time. They were certainly not her strong suit either, knocking someone out was far more fun and efficient.

Maybe, this time she could actually test her skills... Its been a while.

\-- Flashback continued (slight timeskip) - - - - - - - - - - -

"Don't worry, this should help you with controlling your Magicat side," he led her back to his familiar secret room, covered in magical paraphernalia, "you can lay down on this table." He tapped the ancient wood. It appeared to be hand-carved.

Ready to do anything to stop _'the outbursts'_ , she did as she was told, she trusted Micah, even if she only knew him for a few days at this point.

"You comfortable?" he grabbed a vial of a strange blue liquid (crushed cynos mixed in with other stuff to preserve them).

"Mhm." She watched him draw a complex set of symbols with the liquid on the wall, flipping through a book as he did so. At one point, the spell started glowing, leaving the wall and approaching the child's head.

"Hey, don't worry, you're safe with me, I'm not going to hurt you, okay?" He continued guiding it, she shut her eyes as the glow hovered over her forehead.

\-- Flashback end - - - - - - - - - - -

Adora's words echoed in her head, _'You're okay, you're safe. Nobody can hurt you'_ , she shook her head, taking her phone out of her pocket, going into the files app and searching for the instructions Entrapta saved somewhere on there.

So, having a genius scientist make you a phone has its many upsides, especially the fact that her battery life hardly ever runs out, and that they installed a taser into her phone.

"Hah!" She found the manual, explaining which button set off the 'taser' option.

Two metal rods popped out of the corner of her phone, she excitedly pressed the volume up switch and watched electricity spark between the pieces of metal.

"Oh, Entrapta... Never change." She smiled.

Flicking 'taser mode' off, Catra looked around her surroundings, thinking of Adora as she saw the gym building. Having an idea, she went into her phone again, gaining live footage of a few rooms (another upside to Entrapta's craft).

Including the gym... _Holy shit... She's really going at it... Oh, fuck!_

Adora landed a _powerful_ uppercut on her opponent, sending them flying backwards. The small audience about them gasped and cheered her on.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Catra, the nihilist, was in fact, correct about Frosta's goons. Because they were now following her as she stepped out of the main entrance, her spatial awareness was inhuman, quite literally.

Guiding them into the woods, she was ready to make her move, a cocky smirk spread over her face as she turned around and immediately made eye contact with one of them, turning Magicat and sprinting full speed. The buzz of fighting someone was truly wonderful, but the buzzing of her 'taser' was even better as she fried one of the 'minions', dodging the others hit as they approached.

Using momentum and weight to her advantage, she sprung up off the ground with ease, chopping just under the other minion's jawline, knocking them out with her knowledge of pressure points, thanks to Entrapta's research.

"Can't believe Frosta thought two minions could do shit to me..." Her hands rested on her hips while she double-checked her surroundings.

Honestly, dragging two bodies up to her 'secret' part of the woods (a spot hidden by a bunker of dirt) was a real pain in the ass. Adora was built for this kind of thing, not her and her lanky, muscles. Seeing Scorpia grow up with wiry muscles (which started to become bulkier in her teenage years) she had hope that her biceps would do the same, which they sadly did not.

Searching their pockets, she found phones and cash, pocketing the bills, she smashed one of their phones into a tree and shut the other down for herself.

_Always good to get a few more contacts._

"Looks like I've found some _willing_ participants for a spell. I've been waiting to use this one for ages." Her fangs glistened in the light as a sadistic smile spread over her lips. Cracking her knuckles, she hovered over their lifeless bodies.

_Imagine having multiple bodyguards... 'Lilith' would love that. Sure Seahawk was actually **somewhat** good at his job, but still, he was only one man, only one set of eyes._

She took her phone out, about to open up her GPS app. "Oh, You're next, bitch."

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Meanwhile, Adora was walking home, Catra's book still in her bag, she couldn't wait to shove a ton of food down her gaping mouth, truly an infinite pit. Boxing was tiring, and she needed some fuel to study and think.

Having time to process everything that happened would be really nice... Y'know, Catra, nearly getting killed, magic, Catra's thighs... That entire weekend.

"Hey, Razz!" She stepped into the doorway, smiling.

"Hello, dearie. How are you? And how was the sleepover with Glimmer and Bow?"

"Uhh.." 

It took her a minute to remember that Razz had a 'bad memory' and little sense of time and, thankfully, that meant she didn't have to explain where she went and what she got up to.

"Good. It was really good, thanks." She sniffed the food Razz had in the oven.

"Oooh, is that... Berry pie?" She dropped her bags under the stairs and went to help her grandmother wash the dishes.

Many hours passed, and before she knew it, it was time to sleep, but, after an hour of tossing and turning, she heard something strange... Jumping out of bed - and into a fighting stance - she squinted as darkness enveloped her room, except for two mismatched glowing eyes in the distance.

Those eyes immediately went to the jocks exposed chest...

"Hey, Adora." The catgirl stepped through her window, chuckling as she sat back down in shock.

"Oh, Um, hey. Wasn't expecting you here."

"I was passing by..." 

Every word she said had a sultry tone, it was fairly intense, to say the least. Nearing her, the jock froze up, her eyes searching the catgirls figure as she came closer and closer. She looked scruffier than usual...

Claws scraped Adora's jaw as she watched her slightly tremble, "Got my book?"

Somehow, her heterochromatic eyes stayed on Adora's, like tunnel vision, as she scraped one of her claws from the jocks neck and down to her breastbone.

"Y-yeah..." Her lips parted.

"Good," she smirked, backing off and looking about, "where is it?"

Confusedly pointing, Adora said, "Over there."

"Perfect..."

"Aren't you gonna kiss me?"

There was no point in equivocating her aspirations with Catra, it was always better to be blatant/frank.

"Are you making demands, princess?" 

Catra drew closer to her, "Guess I'll have to give you what you want, you're She-Ra after all." The catgirl kissed her hard enough to elicit a reaction but soft enough to not engage 'She-Ra' mode. It was nice... Kissing Adora always made her feel warm and fuzzy, sort of cared for.

Her soft lips always contrasted Catra's tougher, rougher, lips in a really satisfying way, like the feeling of melting an ice cube on someone's skin, refreshing also.

She got off of Adora, heading over to her bag, "Don't think I like you, cause I don't."

"Yeah, right. Uhm, why'd you give me the book anyway?"

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it." She opened to check if the 'frost' was still in there, which it was, she shut the cover and put it in her backpack, heading back towards the window.

She could practically hear the jock roll her eyes, she knew she couldn't get a real answer out of Catra, not unless they fought over it.

A few seconds elapsed as Catra got closer to leaving and getting on with her plan.

"It's late..." Adora stated, breaking the silence.

"Yeah. And?"

"Would you... Want to sleep over?" 

" _What?_ You didn't get enough of me last night?" She cocked an eyebrow, "Or do you want _me_ to finish _you_ off this time?"

"Uh- I..." Adora's brain practically left the chat, her face flushed.

"Sorry, princess, but I've got work to do." She began to climb out, "Looks like I'll have to leave you hangin'. Till next time."

A minute later, the jock processed her words...

 _AHAH! So there ** _is_** gonna be a next time!_ She fist-pumped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PRESS F TO PAY RESPECCS TO ADORA'S BRAIN FUNCTION.
> 
> Also, yall like the parallels between Catra and Micah? I just loved the idea of Catra passing on the things she learnt from him to Adora in her own way.
> 
> ((Fun fact, I save all of my notes for chapters on a separate app and I found one written at 3:07am and the title says it all:  
> "There's gonna be a prom chap and you cant stop me."
> 
> All I wrote after that was:  
> "Adora's dancing. No more needs to be said. Very self explanatory.
> 
> Very dork. Very dork dance moves."
> 
> \- - - - - -
> 
> Also, if Adora had a song (to describe the way she processed last night) this would probably be it:
> 
> \- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG1NE9EWK8g
> 
> "I will study my way down her spine.  
> Familiarize myself with her well-made outline,  
> while she researches mine.  
> I don’t know who I am. I’ve become someone new.  
> Nothing I just did is anything I would do.  
> Overnight, everything changed. I am not prepared."
> 
> rando music for the 2am folks: (you could apply these to the characters if you wanted to)
> 
> \- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAj-Xo5-NXU
> 
> \- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0xdQ8ES9fc
> 
> \- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhZIikh-z7g


	16. Regarding... The incident.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello folks :)  
> I've missed yall  
> Hope you enjoy the 2.2k words I've arranged lol

The jock overheard whispers as she walked through the school halls, Glimmer and Bow beside her with their phones out. As much as Adora appreciated catching up with people through social media, she didn't find it all that enjoyable.

Nor did she spend enough time on there to see all of the gossip, or 'tea' as the other teens called it.

Her only recent visit to the internet involved a failed hunt for Catra's social media, the only thing she had was her Snapchat, and that's because she took photos on Catra's phone and sent them to herself on Sunday night. Aside from that, she dug up a few old photos of her from Scorpia's account.

"Did you hear? Kelly and Brian are in the infirmary-" A student muttered, keeping their voice low as they rummaged through their locker.

"Yeah, they woke up in the middle of town with amnesia, apparently."

"I swear someone said a bouncer tased one of 'em."

"And Micah's probably gonna expel them cause they found drugs-" They continued to babble, getting too quiet for Adora's ears to pick up.

"What's up with everyone?" Adora asked.

"It's nothing new." Glimmer shrugged. "A few kids took drugs and ended up in hospital."

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Wildcat! Hey!" Scorpia waved.

With a roll of her eyes, she shuffled over to the table, "Hey."

"Hello, Catra." The genius sat on her phone.

"Here's the damn Tizzy bar I owe you." Catra rolled her eyes again as she sat opposite Entrapta -- at the cafeteria.

It wasn't somewhere she visited much due to the volume of loud-mouthed students that frequented it. She wasn't one for large crowds, always felt susceptible to being harassed or something. Though, she knew damn well that the others kept their distance, for a reason.

If someone said some quote-unquote 'stupid shit', then Catra would have their head atop a platter, on display for the whole school, within the next hour.

"Excellent!" Entrapta screeched, ripping it open and cutting it into miniature bars.

And then, the chatter of every student stopped, the room fell silent in anticipation as a disgruntled Angella entered and made her way to Catra's table. Even her hair was in a mess, bits of it sticking up.

"The principal must have a word with you, Catrina." She crossed her arms.

"Again? What is it this time?"

"Something regarding the recent incident, I'm sure you're well aware of it, yes?" She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Come on, lets make way to the principal's office."

The other students stared her down like vultures... Did I mention that rumours were on the lunch menu today?

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"So, that girl you do the mentoring _thing_ with..." Glimmer started.

"Catra? W-what? What about her?" Adora got a little too defensive, too fast, stopping herself, "Yeah, I do the 'mentoring thing' with her." 

"Well, apparently, she's got something to do with the kids who nearly overdosed this morning..."

"What?!" She nearly spilt her drink all over the library books.

"Woah, Adora, calm down." Bow pat her back as she choked on the water she was supposed to drink.

"How could she have anything to do with that?" Adora coughed between words.

"I don't know, she's a _delinquent_ , so she probably supplied them with the stuff they took. I'm sure I've seen her hanging out with the other delinquents before anyway."

The blonde winced at that word, 'delinquent', it was wild to think that she would've used that word to describe Catra a week ago, but now she wouldn't dare. _She is so much more than a 'delinquent', you don't even know her..._

"She's not a bad perso-" Adora was too quiet to be heard.

"Well, she could've known Kelly and Brian, so maybe Angella wanted to know if she saw th-" Bow looked at the situation from another perspective.

"You can dream all you want," Glimmer said, "but, not everyone is as innocent or as good as you hope they are, Bow."

"I don't think she would do it." Adora finally spoke up.

"She's a terrible person! Of-"

A librarian shushed her before she could finish, but the others already knew her stance.

"Glimmer, is this because of what happened in kindergarten?" Bow crossed his arms, keeping his voice down.

"What?" Adora asked.

"When they were in kindergarten, Catra stole her lunch or something."

"It wasn't _just_ my lunch. She took my pokemon cards too." She nearly screeched.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

"So what? I mind-wiped them. I thought you'd be proud of me or some shit." Catra sat in front of an unamused Micah.

"First of all, language. Second, yes, that spell is difficult, but do you remember what I told you about that kind of magic? Do _not_ use it-."

"What was I supposed to do? They were gonna beat me. I had to use magic, and I don't know why you're so against this." Catra kept her voice down as frustration kept seeping through. 

"Do you not remember? The law of Threefold return. If you use _that_ type of negative magic then-"

"Yeah, it'll bite you back in the ass three times worse yadda yadda yadda." She interrupted, "I don't believe in it."

"Catra, please watch your language." A sigh left his nostrils. "If you don't believe in that, then you don't believe in karma, and that's a basic principle of magic."

"I _don't_ believe in karma." She crossed her arms.

"You can't just _**not** believe_ in karma. It is a key principle-"

"But, I'm pretty sure I can."

"No, you cannot perform magic without believing in ka-"

"Oh, really?" Catra's temper was beginning to build up, she already accidentally turned Magicat as her focus left her form and was in her argument. 

She cast a simple circle of light, "I think I can, and I will."

"No, you can not choose to believe in karma or not, it is a fact, no skepticism should surround its existence."

"Then why ain't Shadow Weaver dead? If your karma is so real, then why ain't her corpse rotting six feet under? Tell me, Micah, why should I believe in karma?!" Her voice switched between being painfully low - and raspy - to shouting.

She huffed, her ears beginning to ring.

"Karma will reach her eventually, give it time, the cosmic force will ensure that she is punished for-"

"And that's where you're wrong. I'm not gonna sit around and wait here for the universe to 'punish' her. I'm gonna do something. I'm not gonna let people take FUCKING ADVANTAGE of me ANYMORE-"

"Catra, please listen-"

Everything went silent, she could see Micah's mouth moving, but the ringing in her ears had overwhelmed every other sound, she looked down at her shaking hands, turning them into fists before detransforming.

It was all too much, she sped walked to the door and slammed it in Micah's face, growling as tears threatened to spill, holding her pride hostage.

She rushed her way through the various school buildings and began running by the time she made it past the study hall.

Why did Catra love running so much? Because the world didn't exist when all she felt was the heavy hits of her heels to the ground, the adrenaline that hurried through her veins kept her mind at bay, succumbing to its primal instincts. Alongside that, the only thing she could feel was the burning of her lungs as she kept pushing her body to go further and further, the world was a blur, and the last thing she noticed was a figure following her, but that didn't matter.

It couldn't possibly keep up with her. Not at this pace. You'd have to be an athlete to run alongside her, let alone catch up and keep going.

Once again, she lost control, focus, allowing her Magicat form to slip through the cracks of her mind as she neared the woods. The sunlight outside making her squint in pain.

There she was, back into the wilderness, her ears ringing even more, but at least she was under the shade, the blinding light of the sun couldn't reach her eyes or her fur now. Tears continued to spill, but she couldn't feel them over everything else.

_Go! Keep fucking going. Keep. Moving._

She must've ran a chunk of the way to Mystacor by now, she recognised the trees and their layout.

As much as she wanted to keep going. To keep trekking through the ill feelings she accumulated, her body had stopped her. She clutched her aching abdomen while she leaned her body against a tree. Anger, pain and frustration were all she could feel, so she slammed her knuckles into the tree bark. Her muscles went limp as she fell face-first into the dirt. No amount of commanding herself could make her limbs move, not without a miserable heap of pain.

Panting for air, she stayed on the ground, half curled up with her tail wrapped around herself. Blood dripping from her hand, which had pieces of timber trapped under its skin.

Her eyes were shut, ears still ringing as she felt something touching her shoulder.

Oh, those familiar hands... Those familiar eyes, That familiar jacket...

_Adora..._

Her eyes bolted open, "Adora?! What are you-"

"Don't worry, are you okay?"

Catra dug her claws into the earth in an attempt to crawl away from the blonde, she didn't want to show anyone this side of her, and though Adora had already witnessed it, she didn't want her to see any more.

"Catra!" Adora grabbed her by the ankles, dragging her back enough to get a hold of her tail, which caused a powerful whimper and immediately gave her control over the catgirl.

"Stop it, you're only gonna hurt yourself more!" The jock took her shaky, bloodied, wrist.

Catra squirmed under her hold, quickly giving up as she knew she didn't have the strength - or energy - to fight it. "Nnghh." She tilted her head to the side, her tears emptied onto the ground beside them.

"Catra, what happened? Talk to me." Adora wrapped her arm around the small of Catra's back to hold her up.

No response...

Moving her hand up to the back of her head, she held the catgirl closer to her body - on her lap - her tail wrapped around Adora's arm as she did so. Too tired to fight her urge to run away, she let herself lay on the jock.

Her ears lowered as she dug her head into Adora's chest, purring while falling in and out unconsciousness.

Covering her with the rest of her jacket, the jock gently embraced her.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Stirring, she awoke to Adora brushing her fingers through her hair, stroking her, prompting a warm feeling to spread through her sore body. Oh to be in Adora's powerful arms... She loved it, though she'd never say that aloud.

"Hey." Adora's words were just as gentle as her touch.

"Hey, Adora," she mumbled.

"How are you feeling?" Adora looked down at her bloody knuckles, covered in a piece of fabric she ripped - and wrapped around - from her leggings. It was near impossible to do without waking her up.

"Like shit." Her hand stung like a bitch, as well as her head... And her entire body.

"What happened?" The jock rubbed her arms.

"Nothing."

Taking her chin into her hands, Adora tilted the catgirls head to face her. "What happened? Talk to me."

"How long was I asleep?" She changed the subject.

"Half an hour. Now, what happened?"

"Wait, shouldn't classes have started by now?" Catra's brows furrowed.

"Yeah. But-"

"They'll mark you absent, why didn't you go? Don't you care about your attendance, or whatever..." She groggily rubbed her eyes.

"You're more important to me than a percentage, Catra." She rubbed her furry cheek with her thumb, moving her hand behind her cat ear to hold her head up. 

Catra tried to say something, but the jock immediately stopped her, "I'll live with it, as long as you're safe."

There was a long bout of silence as Catra slowly blinked, her eyes welling up even more. She really hoped the jock would know what that little gesture meant because she couldn't say it, she couldn't admit that she even _liked_ Adora.

The cogs turned in her brain, her eyes switching between Catra's amber and blue before she realised, and then they fell to her lips.

And so they kissed, so gentle, so medicine-sweet. 

And so came She-Ra, her large hands able to hold Catra's weight up even better. It took a second to re-adjust to the slight increase in the size of her lips, but it didn't really bother either of them.

Once they divided, Catra quietly chuckled, "I guess I'll have to train you."

"Train me? For what?"

"Train you to control She-Ra, it'd be... _An interesting exercise..._ " She looked her up and down.

"Yeah... That'd be good. I like training. When could we do that?"

"Well... I can't do Friday or Saturday night..."

"Oh, what are you up to?" 

"I... Uh... Do _gigs_ , y'know." She looked away with a smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhhh the training *insert lenny face here*
> 
> I hope yall are okay, I love logging in and uploading this story for yall every week, your comments always make me smile, I struggle to interact socially so I don't talk to people much, so its really nice to talk to yall though the comments.
> 
> I'm struggling with everything going on now and I've been going through a *really* shitty week right now (I can't even begin to recount the terrible events) so I'm happy to get to write in the short amount of time that I have. I just want to write. I want to love and be loved like the characters in this story :')
> 
> Good night/morning folks. I really appreciate you all. More than you could ever know. Thank you for making me feel appreciated. It really means a lot to me.
> 
> Music for the '2am squad':
> 
> \- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvCCyAjahEM 
> 
> \- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7F-79cobr0
> 
> \- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgV1Y3cv35I


	17. So obedient... Pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra and Adora engage in 'She-Ra training'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, I hope y'all didn't read the tags I updated because there's a nice surprise... (unless you're super uncomfortable with certain kinks, then again it's up to you whether you read the tags or not)
> 
> Also, I know its cruel to make this into multiple parts, but y'all deserve HQ smut. I don't wanna churn out some low quality, forgettable, garbage, only the best for you.
> 
> Also, I've released this a day early so now updates will be on every Monday. I love to start my week with some catradora :)

It was Thursday night. Adora followed the co-ordinates Catra sent her. The area was strangely similar - in the middle of the woods - she looked up to see a familiar tree. The one she remembers Catra hanging off of on Sunday. Hanging by her ankle with her arms crossed... _So cute..._

After the whole... 'Situation', with Micah, she was suspended for the rest of the week. And to be honest, that was to her advantage.

Catra -  
Adora: Hey, I'm here.  
\- - - - 

Then a piece of rope fell down beside her.

She shouldn't have been surprised, but she was, and so she jumped into a fighting stance, looking for the source of said rope, which was... A bunch of leaves? _Catra is pretty good at sneaking around..._ Adora thought.

"Use those dumb jock muscles of yours." Catra laughed, her hand popping out of that collection of leaves.

"Hey! These are smart jock muscles!" Adora snorted.

This was incredibly unusual for her, with Catra being a Magicat she wasn't surprised that she would pick a place high up to train. Though it'd probably be dangerous to fight on branches... Then again, _Catra wouldn't do that, right?_

After gripping the rope and making her way up, she dug her head through the leaves to see a metal platform, with a camouflaged... Building?

Revealing herself, Catra opened the door, watching Adora's lips part in confusion.

"You're such a dork." She crossed her arms, leaning against the frame.

Adora stood up, looking around to see branches and leaves covering Catra's 'treehouse'. "How'd... What is this?"

"This is where I live, c'mon, _we've got **training** to do..._"

"O-okay." She pulled the rope up and tidily wrapped it up, placing it on the metal platform.

She followed her into a room that appeared to be a... Kitchen? Livingroom? Something in the middle of those two. There were pots and pans (as well as symbols Adora hadn't seen before) hung up on the walls, a sink full of dirty dishes and a gas stove in the 'kitchen' half.

On the other side were a television, fridge/freezer and a large rug in front of a sofa. The carpet was smothered in cat hair/fur, and along the wall was a small bookshelf and a backpack, she mentally took note of a book with a strange title: 'Advanced Kinbaku'.

"Uh, should I take my shoes off, or?" Adora tried to be polite.

"Eh, I don't care, do what you want."

And so she took them off (and her bag) and neatly placed them by Catra's. She noticed a strange line of tape covered in all kinds of gems along the bottom of the wall. "What are these for?"

_Hematite, smoky quartz, black onyx..._

"Scrubbing my ass." She rolled her eyes, watching Adora look up in horror, "They're magic, they keep the bad shit out."

"Oh... That's cool." She smiled.

"Yeah, c'mon dummy." She opened another door, leading into a small hallway, which lead to another door. She stopped. "You ready?"

"Yeah. It's just training."

"She-Ra training," Catra smirked, opening the door to her bedroom, "after all, I owe you, and I don't owe anybody anything."

"Huh? You don't owe me anything." Adora's brows knit together in confusion.

"Oh, princess..." She let the jock in.

Flicking her light on allowed Adora to see everything: her bed, the various colours of rope along the four walls, as well as some of her other 'tools'.

"Wow... You really like climbing, huh?"

Catra fully transformed, trying to confine her roaring laugh in its cage. "You're such an idiot."

Hovering her claw just under Adora's chin, she grabbed her jacket and slammed her into the wall, watching the jocks face flush as she gulped. "You remember the safeword?"

_Oh. Wow. We're... We're doing **this**._

"Oh! That's what you meant! Hah, ha huh," Adora awkwardly laughed, her face flushing. "Red, right?"

"Just like your cheeks." Catra held her claw closer to her jugular, leaning in as she hovered her fangs over Adora's flesh. "And by the way, we're doing this _my_ way."

"Mhm." She continued to furiously blush.

The hand that previously gripped her jacket now searched the wall beside Adora's head, finding a black bunch of rope.

"Before we do this, are you sure? I'm not gonna go easy on you." She broke out of character.

"I'm sure. I'll tell you if I get uncomfortable. I trust you."

And that's when the catgirls eyes fired up again, she jumped back into her tough, domineering persona once more, loving the effect it had on Adora.

"You're mine, and you're going to do _exactly_ as I say, got it?"

"I'm all yours." She nodded.

While she had control, she leaned in to gently kiss the jock, focussing on teasing her as much as physically possible. She wanted to get lost in those infinite lips of Adora's, but she knew she had to hold back and get on with training.

Taking a step back, Catra demanded, "Everything off. Now."

Hurriedly, the jock stripped, nearly falling down a few times as she rushed to take her leggings off.

"Wrists." 

Adora held her hands out, Catra tied her up and left some space, just in case she transformed into She-Ra, though it was still tight enough to stop Adora from escaping.

Tugging on the rope, Adora followed, watching her tail swish with every step. 

She looked up to see a small hook on the ceiling, confusedly watching as Catra threaded the rope through it, forcing her to keep her arms up and almost hang from the ceiling.

"Perfect." Her mischievous grin lingered in the jocks mind.

Claws glided over her skin, travelling down her breastbone and around her waist, making their way up Adora's spine, watching her muscles tense up at a particularly sensitive spot.

 _Good to know..._ Catra took note. She let go of Adora and stayed behind her.

Now that she was out of sight, she took her top off, revealing a black lace bra -- thanks to her 'gigs', she was able to afford the overpriced lingerie of her dreams.

The second Adora saw it, she became an even darker shade of crimson, her knees coming together as she looked away and gulped, but immediately looked back, the temptation was too strong, she just couldn't keep her sights off.

_Holy fucking shit..._

Catra puffed her chest up and put her arms behind her back, making sure to show off every curve of her body, to make Adora thirst for her. To make her lose control. 

The chest fur had Adora's eyes all over it.

Pulling her chin down to force eye contact, she said, "You want me, don't you?"

Every word was laced full of licentious want...

Adora gulped again as Catra leaned closer, one of her hands grabbing Adora's ass while the other dug itself into the back of her neck.

Her lips jumped at Catra's, pleading for a taste.

"Oh, no, you'll have to beg, princess." Catra leaned back, pressing her thumb over the jocks bottom lip. She was oxygen, and the jock was dying to breathe.

"Please." Adora blinked. "Please, kiss me."

_Too easy._

"So obedient..." Catra pressed her thumb down, revealing the jock's teeth, "Since you asked so nicely."

Their lips thrust together as Adora tried to press her body closer and closer, but to no avail. Catra was doing her damn best to torment her, to make her frustrated beyond belief -- to tease She-Ra.

She abruptly stopped as she felt an intense amount of magic radiating off of Adora's skin. "Control yourself. Pull the magic back in." 

Panting, Adora hung her head as she did so, "Please, please just keep going."

"You don't get to make demands here." She spanked Adora's ass, earning a muffled grunt. "I wanna hear you." She spanked again, earning a louder one.

The catgirl was practically fighting her instincts as she bit her tongue to keep herself in check, to keep her fangs out of Adora's throat... For now.

One more spank, and one more primal grunt... That sound did wonders to Catra's mind, it completely engulfed her.

Grabbing one of her nipples, she watched the jock squirm in anticipation.

"P-please." Her lips parted.

Catra knew she had to tease, to keep it up, but even she felt the urge to give the jock what she wanted... She looked so desperate...

"Can't refuse that, can I?" She leaned in again, rubbing her nipple as she whispered into Adora's ear, "Control yourself." She nipped her earlobe.

"I will, I will," she promised, breathless.

Pressing a quick kiss onto her lips, she headed down to her main target.

Rising and falling, Adora's heart began to speed up as Catra's breath on her neck left her helpless. She wanted so badly to rip the rope and pleasure her on the bed then and there, but she couldn't. She couldn't pin Catra's wrists down as she bit the everloving shit out of the jock's skin.

Then, finally, Catra's rough tongue met her neckline, sending Adora's knees back together... 

A needy noise left her mouth while she clenched her jaw, focussing on keeping her magic down, though it was nearly impossible with the feeling of painful bliss washing over her body as Catra bit down, trailing her claw down the jock's abs. Alongside the electrifying feeling she kept trying to pull back into her chest.

Catra bit harder, testing the jock's focus, watching her moan in raw delight, then she stopped. Causing a sudden withdrawal, Adora whined.

She had to do something about this. Anything. _Think. What would Catra do? _Be a brat.__

__"Nearly felt that." She said through her teeth. Adora tried to rile her up, she needed more, only a harsher bite would suffice._ _

__Catra's mind went blank for a second. _D-did she just..._ _ _

__"What did you say?" She raised a brow._ _

__It's double or nothing._ _

__"I said, I nearly felt that," Adora spoke with faux confidence, doing her best to think of what Catra would say if the roles were reversed, "want me to say it again?"_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody:  
> Me: *re-reading my smut to look for possible tags*  
> Me: "Wow. I really am a kinky bastard."
> 
> Look, I believe that Catra is a power bottom... But... Top Catra rights! Gimme some of that hot and spicy Catra lmao
> 
> Also, whats more difficult to endure than orgasm denial? She-Ra denial, OUCH.  
>    
> Nobody:  
> Catra: *wears a lace bra*  
> Adora: I SWEAR I AM LOOKING RESPECTFULLY
> 
> Oh such cruelty... Until next week my friends ;)
> 
> I'm sorry but role reversals are *chefs kiss*, Adora (our favourite service top) trying to be a bratty bottom is hilarious to me. Truly exquisite. I really didn't think I'd write THIS when I started this fic but here I am *insert blushing emoji here*
> 
> ALSO: high-key wanted to feature Catra using a shock collar on Adora *insert lenny face here* but it'd fuck with the feeling of magic and this is only their first time in 'She-Ra training' sooo maybe next time... ;) (idk tho, not making any promises)
> 
> Wow... nearly 10k hits... I just imagine 10k people reading my smut in a stadium, in total silence, like O_o
> 
> My brat Adora was inspired by this piece of art: https://twitter.com/Maximum_Sand/status/1304547495888990209
> 
> As a tease for the next chapter (which I've already started planning out) here's a little taste of what I'm working towards:
> 
> "And with Adora bent over, ass in the air, she was ready for some _real_ fun."


	18. So obedient... Pt 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning/afternoon folks! Hope yall are having a great start to the week,
> 
> ok so... not to spoil but Catra ties a harness... to give yall an idea of it, the harness would look something like this (timestamp: 8:08) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oYnh_ubk_g
> 
> My favourite line in this chapter:  
> 'It's time to spin the wheel of... What would bratty Catra do?'

"You know what? I was gonna be nice... I was gonna _let you ride me_ , but now..." She whispered into the jock's ear, "Now I'm gonna _punish_ you. And by the end of it, you'll be ruined."

 _Oh... Oh._ She smirked, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

At the nape of her neck, she could feel her heart violently beating, Catra's knee kept her legs apart as she tensed them together. She kept clenching her walls, hoping to relieve the hot, itching for friction, feeling that started frivolously pulsing. Though that - and Catra's sultry tone - only made it worse, she whimpered.

 _What would Catra say?_ Adora struggled to think. The catgirls cocky purring only distracted her more...

"Y-yeah? You gonna do something about it?" She stared her in the eye, performing, her shaky voice betrayed her. "Or am I gonna hang here all day?" 

"Oh, Adora... All you had to do was play nice." Catra slowly shook her head, tutting, "You'll regret that."

Now, which form of torture did Catra chose? To rip her skin into shreds? No. To drive Adora to her tipping point but deny her pleasure? No, that's for later. To _slowly_ tie a harness around the jock and drag the rope in all the right places? Yes.

So, Catra took her self off of Adora, watching her body squirm in defeat. At least she could rub her legs together now...

Grabbing an old school tie, she came up to Adora from behind, wrapping it around her eyes, but, Adora tried to be a brat, moving her head about to force the tyrannical catgirl into touching her more, to hold her still.

"Well, what're you gonna do about it?" Adora egged her on. "H-huh?"

"I think I'll shut you up first." 

She made several knots in the tie, creating a ball gag of sorts. Without warning, she gripped Adora's jaw and forced her mouth open, roughly winding it around her face, there was no chance she'd be able to make another comment or escape this one.

"Mhm..." Catra stepped in front of Adora to admire her handiwork, "I think I like this better."

Adora bit into her gag harder, sweating, struggling against her bonds just to stroke Catra's ego a tiny bit more, she loved the effect it had on her, the way confidence would spill out of her skin... To watch Catra, proudly, stride was a delicacy.

"Oh, you're not getting out of those anytime soon, princess." She licked her lips, "I'll make sure of that."

"You know what? I think I like _this_ better too." She took her pants off, her flexible body bending down to reach her feet, her ass out for the jock. "What do you think?"

The catgirl's stripping was... Indescribable, to say the least.

Though she was totally flustered, the jock tried to act cool. The look on Adora's face was difficult to comprehend, her eyes were focussed - brows tensed - but her smile... That masochistic smile...

And so, Catra let Adora watch, observe her pick out a bunch of rope in a deep, seductive, shade of red. Her eyes rode Catra's figure as she found the bight and stared Adora's flushed skin down. "Hmm..." She bit her lip, her fang glistening.

Now behind the jock, she wrapped the rope around her underbust, creating a girth hitch, and tightening it. Then, she slowly strode around her, surrounding her with the length around again and again with a sadistic grin. So painstakingly slow... Every step was agonizingly drawn out. It was difficult to even walk so slow, to enunciate every tiny movement.

"Catra! Just-" Adora's muffled voice broke.

"What's that? Can't understand you, _princess_. And don't you know it's rude to talk with your mouth full?"

She grunted. Feeling Catra fiddle with the rope around her back, Adora took a breath -- trying to calm her senses... She needed more, she needed to be touched, her body felt like it was melting.

However, she couldn't do anything about it. Catra had her trust, and therefore, had power, control, over her...

Oh, there was something so divine, so lustrous, about Adora's neck. It always caused a seething effect on the catgirl, leading her into a primal mindset. She was driven on pure instinct sometimes, whether she liked it or not.

Thankfully for the jock, Catra chose to lean around Adora's throat as she moved the rope over one of her shoulders and guided it down to her nipples, making sure to add friction as she went, eventually wrapping it under the length that encircled her underbust. She whined as Catra went back up over her other nipple, dragging it behind her.

Involuntarily, her hips swung forward in response to the teasing. She could practically smell Catra's smirk in the air...

The only thing that kept the jock sane during the whole process was the feeling of hot breath on her skin, then again, it was actually doing the exact opposite, though she would beg to differ.

Looking down, she saw a loose 'v' shape on her chest. Catra was speedily toying with the thread behind Adora's back again, now wrapping it just below her armpit and over her chest, brushing her palm against her rock hard nipples as she went over and under.

Then, her tail made its way around her hips and brushed itself up and down the jocks groin...

Time? What was time? How long had this been going on? How long had Catra been torturing her? To the jock, it felt like hours, though it was probably less than a mere minute in reality.

Her knees tried to come together, but Catra didn't let that happen. She didn't even have the luxury of rubbing her thighs together.

Adora couldn't take it anymore, "Please, just do it!" She begged. 

Even though her speech was muffled, (due to the gag) it would still be easy to make out exactly what she said.

A ruthless chuckle was her only response, so, taking advantage of the fact that Catra's leg was between her thighs, she rammed her ass into the catgirl, causing her to nearly topple over as she tiptoed to reach the jock. 

The small grind she got was well worth it. As well as presumably pissing off Catra and giving her a taste of her own bratty medicine.

"Oh, you'll be _punished_ for this too." Catra grabbed Adora's ass, causing her breath to hitch. "Just you wait." She dug her claws in, not enough to tear skin, but enough to cause ragged breathing and a mouth-watering, delectable, whimper.

Speeding up, Catra finally finished her pentagram harness, an ineffable sight on Adora's body... She tried it on herself many times, as a decent rigger should, and could only dream of doing it on someone else's body -- and fucking the life out of them. And because of Adora's little 'rebellious' streak, she made a handle on the back.

She stepped out of character for a second to check-in. "Adora, shit's going to be intense, you sure you want to keep going?" 

"Mhm." She gave a quick nod, feeling the energy shift.

Grabbing said handle, Adora gasped, feeling the heat of Catra's body on her own. She took one of her tits into the palm of her hand and stroked her fingers against the delicate skin, "I think it's gonna be time for your real punishment soon, princess..."

Without warning, she mercilessly pinched her nipple, a move Adora once used on her.

"Aaah!" The jock moaned, back arching as she threw her head back, right into the crook between Catra's neck and shoulder. And for a little while longer, she kept going -- kept rubbing, pinching, squeezing the arousal out of Adora's body as her hungry fangs hovered ominously over her throat.

And once again, Catra took everything away from her. Which caused her to make muffled, needy, noises at the loss. 

This was just as difficult for her as it was for the jock...

However, noticing the catgirl loosening the knot that held her hands up, she soon stopped those noises, watching in silence as Catra began lowering the rope. "Kneel." She said, it still in hand.

For once, she did as she was told, confusedly watching Catra smirk as she tugged some of the rope back through the loop, and knotted it again. At least now, she could stand and have _some_ freedom in her movement... Though, the catgirl would never allow such a thing...

There is nothing sexier on Etheria than seeing Adora, tied up in a pentagram harness, a gag in her mouth, and on her _knees_ begging for Catra -- her skin searingly hot to the touch and her carnal desire even spicier. Oh, raw pulchritude... Anyone would beg to have that memory permanently etched into their mind.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, Catra pulled the handle on Adora's back, guiding her over her knees, her claws grazing over the jocks back as she leaned down.

And with Adora bent over, ass in the air, she was ready for some _real_ fun.

"Adora, I want you to do _one_ simple thing. And if you do it, then I _might_ just let you come later..." She stroked the jocks neck at first, before grabbing at her ponytail and pulling her head back. "Count with me, got it?" Catra untied the gag and tossed it to the side.

 _'Might'? I don't think so._ Adora tried to think.

"Mhm..." She gulped. 

It's time to spin the wheel of... What would bratty Catra do? 

Rubbing Adora's already pink ass cheek, she got ready for round two of spanking. Starting off strong, she smacked somewhat hard.

"Ten." Adora found a gap in her instructions.

"One, Adora. _Don't be a smartass_."

_Thats rich, coming from you._

Catra smacked again, even harder, earning a quiet moan.

"Seventeen," she chuckled, smirking as Catra smacked harder, she was getting exactly what she wanted...

...

Growl, Catra growled, patience was not her strong suit. The problem was that Adora was surprisingly good at pushing her buttons -- at finding loopholes. _Is this how unbearable I am?_

" _Fuck it._ " Catra grumbled, retracting her claws.

"Huh?"

Without warning, Catra quickly found Adora's soaked slit and slammed her digits into the jock -- causing her to nearly scream.

The initial burst of pain was well worth the pleasure derived from Catra's well-trained, speedy, fingers. Funnily enough, Adora never touched herself in such a way, not on purpose at least, and the feeling was sinfully addictive.

You know what was better than seeing Adora knelt in a harness? Hearing her moan and cry, alongside feeling her fervent walls clench around Catra's fingers.

It also appeared that she was beginning to build control. And then... It happened again. She-Ra wanted in on the fun, and Catra ripped her fingers out.

"W-wha-" Adora began, before being interrupted.

She looked down at her wrists, noticing how loose the rope was, as well as how it was tied... Perhaps she could try something...

"Control yourself, She-Ra."

That broke her train of thought. Catra's lashing tail hit her cheek and caused her to have an idea. " _Fuck. You._ "

"Adora, wha-"

Since the last time she touched the catgirls tail, she did some research and found out about a nice bundle of nerve endings towards the end of a cats spine.

Adora quickly swung her body around and grabbed Catra's tail, forcing her into submission as her muscles instantly turned to mush.

And with her ears hanging low, clinging to the jocks body, Catra mewled.

"Control yourself, _Cat-Ra._ " She dug her fingers into the base of her tail, basically massaging it, it must've been her sweet spot, because she started shaking, convulsing, and mewling even more. 

_D-did she just come?_ Adora confusedly looked down at Catra's body, which was resting on Adora's chest weakly. She knew that her touch should have quite an effect, but not this much. She didn't even think that it was physically possible to come so quickly.

Adora huffed, grumbling as she tried to slide out of the rope around her wrists. Catra was too busy being in total bliss for a few seconds, enjoying the wave of euphoria that washed over her, as Adora slipped her hands out, laughing, "HAH!" 

Now having free reign over her movement, the jock gently picked up the catgirls body and placed it further up the bed, rubbing her cheek with her thumb while her elbows had her pinned down by the shoulders, her muscular legs taking Catra's thighs captive as she finally had the chance to kiss her again.

It was tough to bite down magic, but Adora kept herself composed, kept herself in check purely for Catra. It took some serious willpower, but she fought it as her tongue made its debut.

On the other side... It was intoxicating... Submitting to temptation was so incredibly pleasing, so mesmerizing that it almost took over.

However, Catra wasn't going to let that happen... This was going to go her way.

Letting the jock take the lead for a bit, she had an opportunity to scope out a few vantage points. To think. The fact that Adora's pussy was spread apart over her legs was... Beneficial. Very useful. _Convenient._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, holy fuck idk how I thought i'd be done with the smut in this chapter but nope, these 2k words were not enough to finish them off. Im sorry, but I have to split this into three parts ._.
> 
> And idk why I find it so hilarious, but I was listening to 'you sexy thing' while writing this chapter lmao (also listened to beautiful mayhem by DeathbyRomy while double checking for errors and editing)
> 
> \- You sexy thing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUY9Y9RFiHY
> 
> \- Beautiful mayhem - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beS2gF8zgYQ
> 
> I really want to drop more Lilith hints but,, I can't think of anything to add to this chapter as a hint :(  
> I have a very specific song that describes Lilith/her vibe near perfectly, but I'll give it to yall when we get to it... Then again,, I could drop it earlier if you folks would want that... (Fun fact, that song is supposed to play during a part of that chapter)
> 
> Until next week, have a good one yall :)


	19. So obedient... Pt 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, this is the last part of the smut :)  
> Hope yall are having a great start to the week.

Adora's lips felt a pang of lust as she neared the catgirls neck, causing utter chaos on her side -- Catra could feel sparks all over her body... Though she was determined to follow through on her plan, she was dedicated.

Everything felt so right, so perfect, but her willpower drove the next move.

"Hey, Adora, _my way_ ," She smugly reminded the jock of who really had control, by grinding her leg across the slippery molten core hanging wide open above her.

"Remember?" A fang presented itself on her smirk.

Oh, the music in Catra's ears was truly wonderful, she wouldn't mind if Adora became a broken record -- wailing in delight.

Of course, she retaliated, though Catra used her understanding of the jocks sensitive points and applied it, a counterattack of sorts, scratching over a particularly tender spot on her back in the most pleasurable way possible, causing Adora to flimsily drop onto the catgirls body.

Rolling themselves over, Catra now gripped onto the rock hard biceps in her view, using them as handles as she kept her leg moving...

In the meantime, the jock continued to cry and moan, closing her eyes and pressing her face into a pillow as Catra kept going, she endured holding onto her form, kept pushing the magic in her around until she couldn't hold it in anymore.

_I have to control this. I have to._

Once she felt herself begin to transform, she clenched her teeth down, fighting every natural urge in her body, and forcefully took charge, keeping She-Ra at bay. A wild grunt escaping her in the process.

The catgirl watched in confusion, previously making the assumption that Adora wouldn't be able to restrain her transformation at such a late stage - her body was already glowing white light - she stopped for a second in shock, praising, "Good. You... Did great."

The jocks hips thrust up, Catra could feel a gush of wetness on her knee as those words left her mouth.

She was terrible at the whole 'compliments' thing, sounding awkward as she praised her, though, it was important to do so if she wanted the jock to keep it up, she had to reward her. 

She shook that awkwardness out of herself.

"Oh, and if you want me to fuck you, you'll have to take that stupid poof out." She chuckled.

Far too flustered to even answer, the jock just ripped her hairband out, ruffling those luscious locks. In response, Catra smirked, her ears and tail rising up.

_She's listening. And now, she's putty in my claws._

Hands made their way down the jocks stomach, leaning on her abs, she hovered over a flushed face, demanding, "I want you to watch me, got it?"

Adora turned her head, pecking the catgirls lip as she nodded, her half-lidded eyes stared deep into Catra, so full of... Love? Admiration? Something beautiful.

It was so hard to process the feelings that fluttered in her stomach, the warmth that overtook her, so she just _didn't_. Instead, Looking elsewhere, she felt her cheeks heat up while she eagerly replied, "Perfect." 

Her sandpaper tongue licked down her body while she mentally made a decision.

Transforming back into her human form, Catra kept her fingers over Adora's lower stomach, making the jock flex her walls as hot breath hit her clit. Looking up, Catra smirked as two glowing blue eyes intently observed.

It was only the jocks first time being eaten out, so she didn't want to whip out her scratchy - magicat - tongue and probably overwhelm her in one lick.

Her chin made its way closer and closer... 

Slowly rubbing Adora's lower stomach, she chose an excellent place to gauge her comfort/reaction, as she could feel every one of the jocks muscles convulse and relax. Teasingly lapping around those perfect wet folds, Adora grabbed her wild, untamed, hair and gently dug her fingers in.

Finally meeting her clit, Catra slowly swirled around it, hearing heavy panting as she did so.

"C-Catra," she managed.

"Hm? What is it, princess?" She smugly raised a brow.

"Please. Keep do-doing that. It f-feels so-" a moan rose out of her as lips met that precious bundle of nerves...

And that's when the smell of Catra's slick permeated the room... It was far stronger than any other odour, 'Adorka's' dumb jock sweat couldn't compete.

"Good? Huh... Is that the best you got? C'mon _star student_ Adora, I think you can do better than that." She dug her tongue into the jock, after what felt like an eternity of teasing.

As much as she would never admit it, praise... Praise was a powerful tool on her, and she sneakily begged for more behind her mask of snark.

"A-amazing."

Testing just how deep she could go, she found a few spots that made Adora clench harder than the rest... That was certainly marked down on Catra's mental map. 

"Incredible," she huffed, feeling tears forming in her eyes.

Before the jock could get one more word out, Catra smirked. "Mine." she drew the word out, it vibrating into Adora's chasm.

 _Don't you know it's rude to talk with your mouth full?_ Her words echoed in Adora's head.

And so it went on, Catra's masterful tongue whirling and bending Adora's arousal to its will, causing; a symphony of sounds to leave those pretty lips, the jocks back to keep arching, memories to dissipate as everything centred on them, their feelings, their lust.

Oh. That's what the jock was missing her whole life. To think that she was so deprived of such a thing was a bothersome thought. Nearly nineteen years had passed without it...

Maybe now, she could make up for lost opportunities.

She was nearing her limit, losing her grip on She-Ra, and on the verge of orgasm.

Edging her, Catra retracted herself, maniacally chuckling as she witnessed Adora whining louder than ever before, " _Fuck you too_."

And **_that_** was the moment when Catra realised, she wasn't in the right place to say or do such a thing, because, within the next millisecond, She-Ra's nails were hilt deep in her scalp, the rope harness that once encircled her had now melted from the sheer heat of the princess of power's light.

She could say she hated that turn of events, but even with her experience, she couldn't lie so blatantly.

Taking one last breath of oxygen - that her lungs probably wouldn't meet again for a while - her head was shoved straight back into She-Ra's crotch, her labia (near enough) completely covering Catra's nose and chin as she buried herself in.

To be honest, if it took drowning in She-Ra's pussy to make her come, it'd be well worth it.

Without any sense of strategy, she kept drilling her tongue in the spots that made her squirm the most, her fingers leaving the jock's abs to meet her clit as she multitasked.

This was the most frantic she's ever been in pursuit of an orgasm...

Somehow still having a sense of time, the princess of power ripped her head out by her brown hair, admiring the fluids flowing down her face as she gifted her a mere second to breathe, before being plunged back down into the cavern of her mighty walls that is.

Never had Catra worked so hard in her life, or even _for_ her life, because if she couldn't get her off, then she'd definitely be suffocated in the process.

Which... Wouldn't be a terrible thing, it'd be quite the achievement really.

Meanwhile, colours. Adora could swear she _felt_ colours... Maybe even heard them, tasted them...

Nothing could ever compare to this.

Absolutely **nothing**.

The feeling of victory, of beating an opponent, was _meaningless_ in comparison, and Catra wasn't even done yet. 

She still had time before the hot pool in her abdomen could release into a gushing waterfall, an Etheria-shattering climax -- something so unheard of, so 'unfelt' to Adora, something that even her imagination couldn't muster.

Then, she didn't have to think anymore, because, now, she **felt**. Now she experienced. And now, she will never be able to move on, knowing what _that_ was like.

Words were far too cheap to ever express the level of pleasure that consumed her. They couldn't do justice recreating the intense relief that washed over _every_ crevice, the wave of euphoria that _quite literally_ broke her mind, everything was far better than it ever was before. Even the little things, like the feeling of heavy panting between her legs, was ineffable -- let alone the feeling of the girl of your dreams eating you out and taking you into a whole nother dimension.

The image, the image of Catra, her entire face smothered in come, her tongue licking up every ounce...

Knowing now, she couldn't live the way she did before, she couldn't imagine craving such lewd things in the past, but it wasn't the past anymore, for that 'forbidden' knowledge would most likely drive her into uncharted territory, unfamiliar situations...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Praise kink! Catra DEFO has a praise kink and I LOVE IT.
> 
> the BEST *insert lenny face here* line:  
> "To be honest, if it took drowning in She-Ra's pussy to make her come, it'd be well worth it."
> 
> Glory be to Horde Prime? No glory be to Catra's tongue and ungodly lung capacity. Goddamn. 
> 
> I was going to write more about their aftercare and shit, ALSO NOTE THAT AFTERCARE IS V IMPORANT (especially after something as intense as that) but Im too tired to keep writing right now, oof.
> 
> Also I really love the fact that I continually choose to avoid doing my college work by writing porn instead lmaooo
> 
> (p.s. I'm finishing off the draft of this chapter at 3AM, don't mind my whacky notes because those are from now, well, then I guess -- when yall are reading this)  
> Present me: I surprisingly didn't have to edit and check over as much as I thought I would last night lol.


	20. Experimentation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning/evening folks, hope yall are having a damn good start to the week :)  
> theres a timeskip to the next week Monday in this chapter 
> 
> Oh I absolutely love angry/frustrated Adora:  
>  _One could not imagine the insatiable want to grab that fucking child and throw it into the nearest trashcan._
> 
> Also: Happy 40k words! wooo we're at short novel length lol

It was a Monday morning like any other for Adora, wake up early, make breakfast and get a ride from Glimmer and Bow. Holding the door open for her friends, she continued to listen in on their conversation.

She had spent some time, between texting Catra, over the weekend trying to process the madness that went down in... What? A week? Just over a week. In that time frame, she had fought Catra, sort-of befriended her, learned about magic, and y'know just... _Studied Catra's curves and crevices._ She nearly giggled aloud at the thought.

" _Hey, Adora._ " The brunette flicked her sunglasses down, watching the jock trail behind 'Sparkles' and 'Arrow Boy' as she leaned on a locker.

Adora froze, turning to see two mismatched eyes looking her up and down, her shades hanging low on her nose, hiding those precious freckles, and matching her all-black outfit -- a leather jacket, black band t-shirt and jeans combo.

Catra's chuckle entwined her mind -- the jocks pupils dilated, alerting the brunette of their presence immediately.

 _Oh, fuck. I-I... It's Catra. It's Catra. Oh fuck, she's here._ Her mouth draped open.

"Adora?" Bow waved his hand in front of her.

Practically drooling as Glimmer rolled her eyes, she finally got out of the trance she was trapped in, "H-Hello. Catra."

"You got a minute?" She pushed herself off of the locker to stand up.

"Um, yeah." She turned to Bow and Glimmer, "I'll catch up with you guys, okay?"

"Mhm." 'Sparkles' grumbled.

"I guess I'll see you later," he awkwardly chuckled, giving a brief thumbs-up before leaving.

"Pft. What's up with _her_?"

Adora shrugged, "I don't know, Anyway..."

\- - - - - - - - - - - -

The entire walk was silent, Glimmers arms finally uncrossing as she set her bag down and got her phone out, sliding a chair out and promptly giving her legs a break.

"What was that about?" His chair screeched as he pulled it out from under the table.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Glim, you-"

"I don't want to talk about it." She cut him off, glaring elsewhere.

\- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Can't we go during lunch?" Adora bit her lip.

"Ugh, fine, but we'll have to go to a different spot, too many people."

Those heterochromatic eyes rolled into a corner of the hallway, a small laugh nearly making its way out of her chest as a smirk hung over her lips.

"That's fine by me." Adora smiled. "Don't want anyone to overhear us." 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - 

"What do you have against her? I mean, it can't just be that kindergarten incident, can it?"

"It's not that. Why do you even keep asking?-"

"Because its obviously bothering you."

"It's not."

Bow sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, before face-palming.

"Glimmer, are you jealous?" He finally asked.

"WHAT?!"

\- - - - - - 

"I'll see you then." Catra grinned, taking her phone out.

"Alright, I gotta get back to those two before they think we've been up to _something_."

One more wink and she was on her way to the study hall, taking a deep breath as her heels touched the ground with every step. A weird sense of mild dread trailed beside her, _why was Glimmer acting so odd around Catra?_

As she neared the door, she could recognise a high-pitched voice... Curious, she crouched by it, ear pressed to the door.

"She's obviously a bad influence. I don't want her hanging around Adora and making her bad too, I mean, you've seen how she's changed, right? Just last week. And over her 'study weekend' she's suddenly all... _Different_." 

"But, Adora seems happier... And I doubt she'd lie to us about seeing her either," Bow countered. "And what has she even done?"

"After Angella called her into Micah's office, she got suspended, she must've had something to do with the drugs those kids took. I've seen her with them before, it just confirms that she's dealing, and I don't want Adora to hang around with a _drug dealer_."

"Wait, she came into school today, so, she was only suspended for a few days, right? Surely, Micah would've _expelled_ her if she did someth-"

 _Tap. Tap._ Gentle footsteps were nearby.

"How would your friends feel if they knew you were eavesdropping on them?" A dinky girl dressed in all pink whispered, appearing by Adora's side, her fingers on the double doors that separated them.

_Flutterina. She just had to show up, didn't she?_

Two years below Adora, she was one of the few students that dared to challenge her, a _haughty little bitch_ and a real _pain in the ass_ , she participated in all of her afterschool clubs, following as if she were Adora's shadow, doing everything in her power to backstab, embarrass, or simply piss off the jock.

She exclusively dressed in nothing but pink, and at this point, it became an eyesore. Though, to her advantage, it only made her seem more clueless and naive to the others.

It was shocking when Adora had their first one-to-one conversation, the way her voice dropped from the clouds and practically spat every word at the jock was unthinkable, in contrast to her usual dulcet self in front of everyone else. She basically changed her entire persona the second they were alone.

And what was even worse, was that everyone else bought into her being a real sweetheart, so she was always tagging along, just to bother her some more.

Slowly shaking her head, she mouthed, " _Don't you dare_." 

One could not imagine the insatiable want to grab that fucking _child_ and throw it into the nearest trashcan. 

_But then **I'd** be the bad guy._ She mentally groaned.

Flutterina pouted, "Too bad." 

The doors swung open, Adora's only hope was to act as if she was about to walk in anyway, her back immediately straightening up as she threw an arm around that sly pink bastard.

"Hey guys, I uh... Met Flutterina on the way! It's been a while, hasn't it?" She painfully laughed.

Glimmer gave her side-eye as Bow kept looking between them.

She sure as hell hoped that a bead of sweat hadn't dropped down her temples. And thank Etheria that no one could feel how damp her palms were, or hear her thoughts because she was smiling like a mad-man while internally screaming.

"Hey... Are you gonna sit down? Or..." Bow awkwardly gestured to a nearby chair.

Flutterina's smirk really said it all.

\- - - - - - - - - - (The night before pt 1)

"So, what do you think?" Entrapta buzzed, wiping away the condensation on a large tank, revealing a familiar face behind the glass.

"Wh-What?" Scorpia blinked as she examined the creature from closer up.

"I used my DNA to make a clone!" She clapped, excitedly tapping away at a tablet, causing her notes, and a large graph to be projected on the wall in front of them. "But, it's only in development at the moment."

"Wait, what are you gonna do when it's _'developed'_?" Scorpia glanced between the clone and its creator.

"Well, the big issue is that I could not implement sentience, this clone is merely a physical replica. It does not have my memory bank either," she explained, "however, I have a few theories on how to fix those imperfections during my next experiment."

"So, you mean it can't feel anything?" Scorpia scratched her head, trying to comprehend the thing floating before her eyes.

\- - - - - - - - (timeskip to lunch)

Following co-ordinates - and directions - sent over the phone, Adora entered a pitch-black room, making it to the centre before she heard the sounds of someone locking the door behind her.

" _Hey, Catra._ " She spoke in a low voice, dragging the brunettes name out.

Flicking the light switch on revealed a large supply closet, Adora spun her head around to see a familiar catgirl making way towards her. " _Hey, Adora_."

Who doesn't love to be greeted by a cocky smirk, sultry eyes, and pupils the size of golfballs?

Impatient, Catra grabbed the jock by the collar of her shirt and pulled her in for a searing, overdue, kiss. By the time Adora's hands met her hips, Catra's tongue was already invading her mouth, leaving no corner unexplored. 

"Mmmmm," The jock hummed, tightening her grip as she guided Catra to a wall.

The catgirl finally broke their kiss to breathe, resting her head on the jocks shoulder as her hands wandered lower and lower...

\- - - - - - - - - - (The night before pt 2)

"Though... It would be fascinating to recreate another person... I'm already so familiar with my own genome, essentially my genetic composition that is, perhaps I could take your DNA, and Catra's, and develop more clones," Entrapta ran over to her keyboard and began tapping away.

"All I'd need is a small sample, preferably saliva, but hair would also be good. Blood would be most ideal." She turned to face Scorpia, "Please, it would be _SO_ much fun!"

"I don't know about Catra, but I'll do it." She smiled.

_Anything to make her happy._

"Excellent!"

\- - - - - - - - 

Scrambling to get her clothes back on before the end of lunch, Adora finally got her trousers back up, reaching down to find and tie her shoes, while Catra was leaning against a wall, still somewhat blissed out, and smiling as she tilted her head back against the cool surface.

"Okay, how do I look?" Adora checked herself, finding a missed button and doing it up.

Peeking with one eye open, Catra chuckled, "Like a mess." 

"Wha- What do you mean?"

Her hair was completely dishevelled, lips swollen, skin flushed and...

"First of all, your zippers down." She pointed her claw down with a toothy smirk. "Second, your face is bright red... And damn, you couldn't even tuck your shirt in," she tutted.

"Oh." The jock's cheeks only got hotter at that, she did her zip up.

"C'mon, Adora, we can't have you looking like this, now can we?" She approached, her hands trailing around the jocks waist as she tucked her shirt in from the back, groping her ass in the process...

"Hey, don't be a tease," Adora whined.

The catgirl snickered, "You call _that_ teasing?" 

"Well, Yeah." 

Her hands made their way to the front of her lower abdomen, "You're such an idiot," she slurred as her claws dug a lot further down than they should've, making their way towards the jocks core.

And that's when she had an idea strike her mind. Playing with Adora was already so much fun, but it could be so much better...

\- - - - - - - - - - - (Later that day)

"Hey, dweeb, I need another favor," Catra smirked at the endless possibilities...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh I absolutely loved writing my own version of Flutterina into this story :)  
> Ugh she's such a bitch. But, that's why I love writing her.  
> And jealous Glimmer is going to be fun...
> 
> I have so many ideas planned out, I can't wait to actually get to them at some point oof  
> But, at the moment I have another few key events happening until... heh you'll see when we get there (not the end haha, theres alot happening before that)  
> I'm also very hyped for the Lilith reveal... But that'll happen eventually lol
> 
> Also, as we're slowly approaching Nov/Dec, I'll have a big project for college at the end of the year (and I'll have to deal with christmas and family bullshit too) so I may have to slow down the chapter releases around that time ugh, but I'm just letting yall know in advance. Hopefully I won't have to, but it's not looking so good :(


	21. Scorching

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this is late, though... The Lilith reveal is in this chapter... I hope it's not too disappointing.  
> A song plays in the background as she's is introduced, it is nearly perfect and adds a lot to this chapter (for me at least) so I'd recommend listening to it before/while reading. 
> 
> Lilith - by Ellise - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9sENKMK8Tk
> 
> Also: we have time skipped to Friday, and no you did not miss a chapter, I'm just throwing yall straight into a scene I've been wanting/planning to write for months.

Arriving in Glimmer's car, which Adora sort of bent the truth to get a hold of, she checked her phone, going through a list of venues. It wasn't lying per se, because she did need it, just not for today.

***

The first thing, the _very first thing_ , Adora noticed was the assault on her lungs. One of her hands covered her mouth, holding down a cough, she stared at the red, stained, carpet being trampled upon -- refusing to take the risk of making eye contact. Looking about the floor, she spotted stools, a stage of sorts, some dishevelled wires and a lot of legs. 

The odour was beyond putrid, causing her to be on the brink of drowning in that burning bog-like reek of ash, it wasn't hard to figure out what it was, from the trails of smoke - made visible by bright lights - and the resurfaced memory of walking behind a smoker.

The second thing was the noise... Blaring, overplayed, harmonies and slurred words being thrown about the room left, right, and centre. It was unavoidable, earplugs certainly wouldn't even begin to cover it.

Tightening the strings on her hoodie and adjusting her sunglasses, she took a seat.

_As if a sleazy place like this is the one Catra chose to do her gigs at... But, its the last one on the list... There's nowhere else she could go._

"What'll it be?" A young man behind a counter interrupted her thoughts, resting his elbow on the dark wooden veneer as he slid a coaster towards her, an endless shelf of bottles behind him.

"Oh, Uhm, do you guys do orange juice?" She squeaked, her voice trembling.

"O-Orange juice?" He laughed, drawing the attention of fellow patrons.

"Yeah." Never had she felt so small before in her life...Okay, so perhaps that was an exaggeration, she hadn't felt so 'small' in a long time.

"So what? A tequila sunrise? You don't look like the fruity type... You want a screwdriver then?" 

"A what?"

"A screwdriver, O.J and vodka." 

"I-I'll- Yeah." She awkwardly nodded, paying up.

He might as well have taken a scalpel and cut her kidney out with the price of that drink, but she wasn't one to argue with the scammer.

Pretending to check her phone, she nervously listened in on other conversations, seeing a woman sling an arm over another's shoulder in the distance, "Hey babe, what do you think? I'll do half price, just for you."

"Sorry, but Lilith's up next..." 

***

Checking her watch, Adora sighed, taking a sip of the 'alcoholic beverage' sitting beside her right hand.

One would not want to sit and drink alone, but with the price she paid, she had better make it worth the charge. Plus, she was still waiting for someone to perform...

 _I don't know why she didn't just tell me, they're just gigs, maybe she's embarrassed? I don't see why she'd be, I bet she's excellent... Wonder whether she'll dance or sing? Her voice..._ Adora's train of thought was interrupted by an announcement.

"Get your wallets ready for the next dancer, Lilith!" A man with a stunning moustache and microphone changed the atmosphere of the entire room with one word... 'Lilith'.

Ready to finish off the rest of her drink and leave, Adora watched a crowd of men and women circle around the previously mentioned stage, the jock finally looking up to see an odd metal beam in the centre. _Archietecture nowadays..._

Drink in hand, she wanted to see what all the cheering and fuss was about, the people chanted as a song started playing... Shaking the entire room as the bass thundered through anything and everything.

The crowd around her was large and dense, Adora thanking her height as she could see over their heads.

Then her eyes finally had a chance to look up at this 'Lilith' person on stage... That's when _it_ happened.

***

Meanwhile, at Entrapta's place of residence, Scorpia sat on the edge of her bed, watching the 'exciting' part of the cloning process begin. To be honest, she had no clue as to what was happening but still sat there and supported the genius at work.

"I can't believe you actually got Catra to do it," she said, smiling, "I mean, I'm happy for you, but I wasn't expecting it..."

"Well, she asked me to make something in return, as an exchange should be, I assume."

"Oh, what did she ask for?" 

"Ah, sorry, but she made it a condition that I do not tell anyone if I wanted her DNA."

"Oh."

"And she threatened to assassinate me also."

***

That was the moment when her brain connected the dots.

_I-Is this one of those... Strip clubs?_

One as innocent as Adora had only seen such things on television, and even then, she refused to watch more... 'Explicit' stuff, which was a real pain in the ass during Glimmer's movie nights.

That was also the moment that she recognised the person on stage... 

Strutting up to the pole, exuding raw confidence, the woman locked eyes with her, seeming surprised for a second, before smirking like never before with a wink. Brushing her curly dark hair behind her shoulder.

Slowly grinding against the pole as she squatted down, the blue and amber-eyed 'Lilith' made a show of licking her teeth.

Her eyeliner was sharper than literal knives...

On the other hand, Adora stared wide-eyed, her mouth stuck open, lungs forgetting the reek of smoke as Catra began to stand up again, pressing her small chest into the pole, and taking a layer off.

Now, she was merely wearing a _very_ short skirt and a 'form-fitting', skimpy to say the _least_ , crop top. Though, the sight of her in stilettos was a rare treat.

Mouth practically watering, Adora stood there in disbelief, watching bills fly... Her sober thoughts were quickly thrown out as a gush of something left her body, causing her already dark crimson blush to only deepen.

Flinging her body about the pole as her legs split, Adora watched her skirt fly up, showing off a delectable portion of 'Lilith's' ass.

The word 'mesmerised' could not even begin to describe the jock, Catra had stripteased in the past, but _this_ was different. Apparently, a pole was all she needed to seduce her even more.

There was a strange hint of elegance as Catra slung her body about, like an artist making speedy, masterful, strokes, she somehow had perfect control and coordination. Then again, one could certainly describe her 'methods' as masterful, she could do wonders to Adora's world with just two fingers, let alone a pole.

She was actually _thriving_ here, taking advantage of the dipshits thoughtlessly hurling cash at her.

Thankfully, Adora couldn't see the dirty looks people were firing at her, death glares, as not one bill left her pocket, well, not since the 'screwdriver' incident.

Then, her crop top came flying off, revealing a familiar black lace bra, one that had rampaged through Adora's mind a week ago.

She looked amazing... But, something felt off. Was Adora, by standing with these strangers, consumers, _creeps_ one too? Was she on the same level as these people? After all of the vulnerable moments they shared together, what was she?

Avoiding the inevitable overthinking that typically ruined her mood, she focussed back on Catra, watching her half-lidded eyes hovering over another person. 

_I want you._

After what felt like seconds, the dance was over. Catra was making her way down a small set of stairs around the stage, whispering something to the previously mentioned 'moustache guy' as her eyes searched the jocks body, a wild journey. 

Picking up her earnings, she was getting constant offers, bids on her body. People howling bigger and bigger numbers as she made her way to Adora.

Along the way, a man grabbed her by the arm, immediately leading to a tug from Catra, "Seahawk, do me a favor."

The room held a deathly silence as she made her judgement.

"Wait, wait please, I just-"

One snap of her fingers and his ass was out the door, her sight back onto the jock.

_So... This moustache guy is called Seahawk?_

"Hey sweetheart, get me a 'Lilith special'," she said, pausing, "actually, get yourself one too, on the house, _you look thirsty_."

She was correct, Adora was definitely parched after watching her flawless performance.

"Y-Yes." The jock avoided looking at 'Lilith' as she passed her a twenty.

"You okay, baby?" Catra took those ridiculous sunglasses off of her, bending them shut as she gently tucked them into a pocket of her hoodie.

_How stupid does she think I am? I can recognise her from a mile away._

"What's wrong? _Cat got your tongue?_ "

Adora made a dash for the bar, her mind completely empty and full at the exact same time. Devoid of all real thoughts, though very _very_ full of Catra, so very full of her.

"Uhh, hey-" Adora stepped up to the empty counter. The previous patrons were gone and likely bothering Catra.

"Lilith special?" He turned to face his wall of drinks.

"Yeah..."

Seahawk approached the jock, "I shall be escorting you to a private room, per Lilith's demand."

It was so strange to hear someone automatically say this alias, thinking it was Catra's real name, in such a nonchalant manner, did this 'Seahawk' fellow actually know who she was? 

"It will be an adventure." He smiled, his sudden bubbly attitude severely contrasting the earlier moment when someone touched Catra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody:  
> Catra: wears stilettos  
> Adora: *internally screaming* STEP ON ME pls
> 
> Oh and this song is also NEARLY PERFECT for this chapter, I just cant-  
> I even stole a line from it haha
> 
> Nightclub love - Matt Maltese - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z7_yuXGJuc
> 
> \- may I say, kismet (meaning fate), what a wonderful word. I love it.


	22. Kitten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello y'all, hope the second lockdown is treating ye well (you unfortuante bastards, my antisocial ass is loving it) hope you enjoy this chapter :)
> 
> And if you're not in lockdown, and covid cases are low, how does it feel to have a competent leader?
> 
> Stay safe folks :)

"P-Private room?" Adora gulped.

"Yes, dear," He nodded, taking two of the four shot glasses the bartender passed over, Adora taking the remaining, "now, let's get these to Lilith, and I'll show you there."

"Alright." Adora followed him, approaching Catra as she flirted with a potential customer.

This potential customer was an older man, also being pushed off to the side as Seahawk gave Catra her drinks. Watching her down each shot and earning cheers and whistles from the crowd surrounding them.

"Drink up," she took one of the jocks shot glasses and held her jaw open - pausing as she stared into her eyes - before tipping the searing alcohol down her throat for her.

"Took that one like a champ, _kitten_."

_That's new..._

Having a real reason to test out pet names gave Catra a ton of opportunities to have some more fun, and this one garnered the biggest reaction out of the lot... So it was obviously her favourite.

The other shot still in hand, Adora said, "I don't think I can drink another."

"Always the responsible one, _sooo_ admirable." Rolling her eyes, Catra took her shot, and hummed in response to the familiar sting, smirking.

"See you soon." Her fingers brushed across Adora's cheek as she walked elsewhere.

"Huh, so Lilith really fancies you, doesn't she?" Seahawk began walking off to the V.I.P. area, being greeted by another bouncer as he allowed Adora into a deeply red-lit corridor, showing her to the fifth room.

"Yeah, I guess..." She looked about it, eyes grazing across a large velvet sofa/bench 'thing' ahead.

"Righty then, I must get going, she shouldn't be too long."

"Thanks."

He shut the door, leaving Adora to think for a moment, to reflect, to look about the interior of the room and notice even more details, like the strange markings along the wall.

She patiently sat down, naturally manspreading.

Though she didn't have long before someone was barging into the room, certainly not 'Lilith' by the sound - who was far more elegant in her stride - and didn't look like her either. No, Adora couldn't recognise her until she spoke, her voice seeming oddly similar to one she's bumped in to not long ago...

"Hey, babe, I know you're here for Lilith, but I'll show you a good time for half her price." She smirked.

_'Just for you'._

This was the woman Adora had overheard before Catra went on stage, the one offering herself for 'half price' less than an hour ago, "Sorry, but, n-no thank you."

"Look," she bent down, showing off her cleavage, "just for you, I'll do a _a third_ of her price."

On the other side of the door, Catra overheard it all, snickering as she entered, "What are _you_ doing here? I thought boss told you what would happen if we caught you again..." 

She looked at her nails, grinning, as she toyed about with the extensions, which were somewhat reminiscent of her claws.

Catra's eye contact and acknowledgement was to be earned here, it seemed.

Without a word, slamming the door shut, the woman left, traces of fury clearly seeping through her expression, causing her face to contort as she held back a jarring smack of words.

"My, my, Adora, looks like all the ladies are after you tonight." Catra rolled her eyes.

"I- W-well, uhm," she started rambling, rubbing her neck.

"Anyway, heard you got your mitts on Sparkles' car," she started off, "mind picking me up in..." She bit her lip in calculation, "An hour?"

"I can do that." Adora nodded, "H-How did you know?" 

"Know about what? That terrible 'disguise'?" She used air quotes, "Or about the car?" 

The jock looked down at her hoodie, and sunglasses, then back up, "It's not _that_ bad, is it?" She shook her head. 

"Glimmer's car."

"Word spreads fast, faster than those thighs of yours, and what I should _really_ be asking, is how did you find me here?" She seemed almost offended by Adora's question, giving off the impression that she thought Catra was some kind of stalker.

Well... She only checked up on Adora's location once every while, thankful for Entrapta's tech being able to give her access to cameras all around the city.

_But, that doesn't make me some kind of stalker..._

"I, well, you told me about some kind of 'gigs' you were doing, and I wanted to show up and support you-"

"So what? You assumed I'd be a stripper?" She paused. "Nice one, Adora."

"What? No. I just got a list of all the venues in town and checked them out, I didn't even know this was a strip club-"

"There's literally a neon sign with a giant pair of tits out by the door, you're really telling me you didn't know?" A brow raised, she knew Adora wasn't particularly street-smart, but...

"I just thought it was a weird place, but I still wanted to try and find you." She fidgeted. "Even if I don't fit in with the crowd."

"Oh, Adora..." She deeply inhaled.

"A-Are you mad at me?" 

"No. I'm kind of glad actually, the saggy old bitches here are a real turn off."

One of the jock's legs began to bounce, gaining the attention of 'Lilith's' eye, causing her to step into Adora's personal space and sit down on that leg, allowing her to play with a few wispy hairs, missing in action from her poof.

Caressing her face, Catra pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead, watching those dilated eyes move between each of her own.

"I can't stay for too long, I need to make some cash, but like I said, pick me up in an hour, I'll have Seahawk escort you to the back entrance." She finally caved into one of her desires, pressing her lips to the jocks, a slow sensual kiss.

"Okay," Adora whispered, leaning into one of Catra's palms over her cheek as she pressed her own hand atop.

Something melted within Catra, a honey-sweet feeling looming in her mind at the very sight of the jock, eyes closed, leaning into her touch -- almost yearning for a second more.

And so she gave her that extra second, allowing it to elapse until she was ready to let go, with a glint in her eye and a tender smile.

"Are you okay?" Those words seemed to quietly tremble from her lip, certainly not the sound she was going for.

"I'm fine now, just felt a bit... Overwhelmed. Out there." She softly spoke, "But, I'm glad that I found you."

Hugging her, Catra shut her eyes, letting the warmth of Adora's words soak in for a while.

*****

"Huh... This is an interesting development..." Entrapta looked deeper into her microscope.

"What is it?" Scorpia appeared by her side.

"It seems that..."

She pinched the bridge of her nose in thought, running through the most likely cause of such a strange occurrence in Catra's DNA.

"Catra has some atypical genetics."

"What do you mean?"

"There are strands that I've never even seen before here... I don't really have much to compare them to."

"Huh?"

"Perhaps it explains some of her odd behaviour. We should study her for the next few days, before announcing this discovery..."

*****

As instructed, Adora sat outside the back of the club - after driving around for forty minutes - waiting for 'Lilith' as she sat in her locked car, scrolling through her phone.

One may say she was paranoid by locking the doors, though another could say it was a smart choice.

After a loud smack of a metal door, she looked up to find the person she was after, dressed in a grey hoodie and sweats.

Ten minutes late, just as Seahawk estimated...

Unlocking the door and flinging her duffle bag in, Adora smiled as Catra gave her a wink, before sitting in the back seat, confused, Adora asked: "Why are you sitting in the back?"

"More room," she knowingly chuckled, "now, I want you to drive up to the next empty parking lot..."

"O-Okay." The jock did as she was told, buckling up, and starting up the engine.

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention. Adora," she slowed down, leaning up to the jock's seat, " _I want you to fuck me when we get there_." She said it so casually, writhing in the enjoyment of watching the jock's face heat up in the rearview mirror.

Tightening her grip on the wheel, Adora drove the entire way there - in silence - with absolute filth on her mind, a warm feeling itching within her, while Catra wiped her makeup off.

Fur and makeup _do not_ mix, and she was not going to give up a magicat orgasm because of that. She didn't know how or why it felt better as a magicat, but it did.

"This one will do." Catra cut her out of the trance she didn't know she was in.

Adora parked the car in the corner of a desolated lot, near the Mystacor forest, sitting awkwardly in her seat as she didn't know what to do next, so she stared.

"If you don't get your ass over here in the next ten seconds, then you can watch me fuck myself." Catra transformed, ear flicking.

Faster (and clumsier) than the speed of light, the jock chucked her shoes off, climbing between the front seats, and ending up cramped and on the floor in front of 'Lilith'.

"Mmm. On your knees, just how I like it, _kitten_."

"But, you're-"

"Shhh," Catra placed a finger over Adora's mouth, " _be a good kitten and make me come_."

Feeling the jocks heartbeat speed up, she watched in amusement as Adora placed a palm on each of her knees, gently opening up her legs a little, fingers dashing to her waistband.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catra calling Adora 'kitten' is just something I love so SO much, she does it because it's what she wants, and will probably continue to deny that she loves it for as long as she lives lol
> 
> Writing smut is just so enticing some times, I need to stop and progress the plot (wait, what plot?) at some point.
> 
> Yall proabably assumed shit would go down in that private room huh? HAHAH no, Sparkles' car was the target all along, and I feel bad if Adora has to clean it out afterwards lmao (hint, she probably will.)
> 
> As I've likely said in the past, Catra owns my soul and will continue to do so, have a good week folks :)


	23. Your idiot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I may have started (and finished) this chapter half pissed (drunk, for you non-brits) and so it may be different? eh. Idk, hopefully still readable lmao
> 
> note to self - dont, DO NOT, mix cognac and milk, idk why I had that idea but holy fuck was it terrible.
> 
> Me now: *wakes up to find a new note* did I seriously write a whole ass essay about my fucked up mental health right after that? I'm not surprised.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy this chapter folks :)

"Careful with your claws, I have to give Glimmer her car back, and I don't know how to fix car seats," Adora chuckled.

\- - - - 

Meanwhile, at Glimmers place of residence, she sat up on her giant bed, Bow propping up her head with his chest as he texted a friend.

"Who are you texting?" Glimmer looked up at the phone above her.

"Scorpia. What do you say to adding another friend to our study session tomorrow?" He smiled, rubbing her head.

\- - - - - - -

God, if there is one (or more), the singe of alcohol on Catra's lips and tongue was addictive, so fucking incredible.

The smell itself was luxurious, and though Adora knew little about brandy, she could guess that it was cognac -- Sparkles stole a bottle of her mother's alcohol in the past, and that was some pretty expensive stuff, that smelt exactly the same on Catra as it did on the lid of the bottle.

\- - - - - - - 

Glimmer grumbled, "Yeah, whatever."

"Hey... What's up?" Bow tilted his head down to rest on her shoulder.

"It's nothing."

"We've been over this Glim."

"Look, can we talk about it some other time?" She sighed.

\- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Mmf- Fuck, Adora." 

This moment would've been great on its own, though, Catra was buzzed, making it even better. Her head gently tingling, body warm and the tension in her muscles was non-existent -- well, until Adora got to work.

"You're getting better at this, princess," she praised, pushing the jocks head further into her crotch.

She didn't need a reason to dive deeper into the magicat, that sweet, sweet, (not literally) aroma had been driving her insane, she didn't need any encouragement.

As she drove earlier, the jock came up with a little theory... 

"I can see that," Adora looked up, briefly detaching her lips from the catgirls clit for a second, "kitten."

A moan ripped out of her chest as Adora's tongue swirled and swirled - right after calling her that name - causing her to squirm in her seat. Smug in her mind, Adora nearly giggled at her acknowledgement.

_What if I flip the script?_

"You like that, don't you?" Her hands trailed up under Catra's bra to unfasten it.

Instead of responding with the 'fuck you' she had in mind, the catgirl panted as another wave of pleasure slipped through her, shutting her up.

Adora got up off of her knees to change positions, laying the catgirls body across the back seats, avoiding the seat buckles, and straddling her, her lips over one of the magicats rock hard nipples, one hand slipping lower, while at the same time the other grazed up her furry arm -- pinning it above her head.

Whimpering, she shut her eyes as the jock continued to spin her mind, making her lightheaded in the most pleasant of ways.

"You love it when I'm like this, don't you?" 

"When I'm possessive." She added.

A strangled sound was her only response as she covered one of her fingers in slick, rubbing it between her delicate folds.

"You were trying to tell me all along, weren't you?" Adora smirked at her analysis of... Her acquaintance? Friend? _Girlfriend?_ They hadn't discussed that yet, and probably should have. 

"When you'd make me say I'm yours..." She finally stuck a finger in.

Receiving a pant, Adora started pumping in and out.

" _Now, I want you to tell me you're **mine**_."

She felt a gush of warmth slip around her finger, so she dove another in, speeding up her thrusts.

 _"Mine."_ She grunted.

"I-I'm-" 

Her voice broke before she could say anything - before she could even _think_ because nothing but the roaring words of the jock flew around her brain - everything was so perfect at that moment.

Until Adora stopped, whispering in her ear, "Say it."

Her walls clenched around the jocks fingers, begging for movement.

"Fine," she paused, "I-I'm yours."

Slamming her fingers back into their old pattern, Catra cried aloud, starting to chant the jocks name as she kept up the rhythm.

"Mmm," Adora started to lose her composure, "C-Can I give you a hickey? Please."

_Fuck it. Fuck now, think later._

"Do it," she mewled.

\- - - - - -

"Glim. Whatever it is, it must be really bothering you, you know you can talk to me about anything." 

"Well... It's just that," She stopped, taking one of his hands into hers, fidgeting with his fingers as she thought for a moment, "I'm scared. That we're going to drift apart."

"What do you mean? I'm always gonna be here." 

"Look at Adora, she found a new friend and all of a sudden, she's always with _her_ and not us." She started, "And, I don't want that to happen to you and me..."

"Look, Glim, I'm happy for her, and you should be too, but she's not gonna ditch us for Catra, she's not that kind of person, and anyway, she can have more friends than just us, there's nothing wrong with that." Bow took her hands into his, pressing them together.

"But-"

"None of us are going to leave you behind. Don't worry about it, okay?"

"Okay," she said, looking elsewhere.

\- - - - - - - - - -  
There was going to be a giant mess in that car, whether the jock liked it or not, though, it was totally worth the feeling of slick dripping down her hand.

Filling her up, even more, Adora transformed into She-ra while her fingers were hilt-deep in the catgirl, leading to one of the most delicious sounds she had ever heard in her life. 

She needed it on repeat. So, to achieve that, having permission, she bit into her neck, drawing out even more.

"Oh, my- Shit. Shit. Shit." Catra cried.

"Don't worry, I've got you. You're mine, after all." Adora left searing kisses across her jugular, making her body freeze up as she neared her climax.

"Go on, come for me." Adora's hand worked in overdrive, kissing the catgirls lips as the fingers - that once pinned her arm down - were now interlaced with the magicats as a sweet gesture.

The wet smack of Adora's palm hitting her clit with every thrust was by far the loudest sound now as Catra basically lost her voice, gasping and barely whimpering. Meanwhile, Adora (She-Ra) was effortlessly plunging deeper and deeper with every hit, her wrist crying out as she pushed herself through mild discomfort for Catra's sake.

Letting go, Catra's muscles briefly froze before turning to jelly.

\- - - - - - - - - - - (time skip)

Using her hoodie as a blanket, Adora wrapped the catgirl in her arms, loving the sweet purrs that not only swept through her ears but also vibrated into her chest, warming her gentle heart.

Humming into the junction between Catra's neck and shoulder, Adora smiled, leaving a gentle kiss on her fuzzy skin.

That moment was tooth-rottingly sweet.

Though, the night was still young, and Catra knew that well, her hand searching and finding her phone beside her duffle bag. It was only half-past ten, and she had things to do.

"Hey, I gotta go soon, mind dropping me off?" She turned to face the jock.

"Yeah, just give me five more minutes." Her arm tightened around the catgirl, "And, um, are you free tomorrow?"

Catra giggled, "What? _You wanna ask me out on a date?_ "

The jocks face reddened.

"I'm busy this weekend, gotta look through George and Lance's archives and shit, but after that, yeah."

"Oh, how are you gonna get there?" 

"I have a trackerpad, you dork," Catra flinched as Adora suddenly cupped her cheek, her thumb swimming through a tuft of hair.

"Just be safe, okay?"

"Don't worry, you're not gettin' rid of me just yet," she smirked.

"Not until prom at least," the jock chuckled, "I need a date y'know."

"You're planning this early?" 

"Well, it's Glimmer and Bow really, but yeah, I guess." 

"Just like Scorpia and Entrapta," she said, rolling her mismatched eyes.

"Anyway, is that a yes then?"

"What?"

"To being my... Prom date." 

"Of course it is, dummy-" Catra could hardly finish her words before Adora lunged for her lips.

"You don't even know how nervous I was to ask."

"I'm just that great, huh."

"'Course you are, you're Catra." She scratched just under her jaw, leading to a short-lived purr as the magicat blushed, turning her head away.

"You're such an idiot-"

"Yup. I'm _your_ idiot." The jock quickly wrapped her arms around the tiny catgirl, making her yelp before pressing fast, tender, kisses wherever she could.

"A cheesy idiot!" Catra shook her head, pushing down a laugh that rose anyway.

"Oh, if you think this is as cheesy as I get, then I have some bad news," she said, nuzzling her head into the magicats neck again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope that wasn't too terrible, but yeah, enjoyed writing this one.
> 
> Can't wait to reread this later and cringe at the mistakes haha
> 
> Wait... Is that- do I see something resembling... PLOT?! Oh my... How scandalous...  
> I find it hilarious how my only (proper/nearly complete) outline for this story is a playlist lmao But it's kind of working? Eh I really need to sort it out 
> 
> Anyways, have a good day/night folks :) have a glass of water or something


	24. To obtain-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning/evening y'all, enjoy.

Catra hummed, sitting at the edge of the Whispering Woods, backpack sagging down her back, she placed a single foot on a nearby tree stump, surveying her surroundings.

The early morning sunlight dappled upon her shoulders, making a mirror of her trackerpad, her freckles dancing across the glass as she tried to cover up the reflection, not that she hated it, just that... She never saw what Adora did, never understood why it gave her eyes a _'strange'_ look.

The kind of look she'd only seen in films, and even then, that look wasn't staged, though, it'd be almost disrespectful to compare it to the jock's.

"I'm on my way." She mumbled, tapping the on-screen keyboard, notifying the historians.

What were they exactly? Historians? Protestors? Some kind of opposition to Prime, and they were an excellent start. Having the potential to provide her with vast amounts of knowledge, and train her further in the practice of magic than Micah -- they were clearly just as capable as him, if not more, and even if they weren't, at least they wouldn't hide spells from her as he did.

How exactly did she find out he was hiding spells from her? She never trusted him to in the first place, but after seeing George and Lance's library, she knew for a fact, that he was _holding back_ at the very least.

Though, it's not like he broke a promise of some sort, it was never his job to teach the magicat the ins and outs of magic, she was never entitled to his expertise.

She was never entitled to much in her life apparently, and figured it out pretty fast. An _adequate_ mother was the _first_ thing, and being treated with basic decency and respect - something worth more than a shit-stained rag - was another. Realising/understanding such a thing at an age where she couldn't even vocalise her thoughts built her into a pessimist from birth.

Discovering who, and _what_ , she was kept her going, even if it complicated everything, including her already twisted worldview.

Life had already been an empty well to her, but the simplistic idea that she could somehow climb her way out of Primes playpen to an entire world outside propelled her. To live somewhere in her own skin, without fear of being caught and slaughtered, was enticing, who could really blame her for wanting such a right? 

And even if she was judged, at least she'd be _free_.

Trudging past one ecosystem into another, she was already far enough into the woods to transform, relieved to have her magicat instincts back again.

As cool-headed as she appeared, she was predisposed to becoming paranoid and being able to find and fight something with just her sense of smell bulldozed her worry, her hearing, however, was treasured even more in those circumstances.

One easy difference between her and Adora was the fact that she could actually rationalise her anxious thoughts, in such a way that she avoided catastrophizing, though no one is perfect -- she'd certainly had her moments.

Twitching her ear, she located a creature in the distance, native to this patch of land (this sector) speeding past her, rustling bushes.

Adora would probably be screeching at that point, and the catgirl merely scoffed at the thought. She scoffed at most of her thoughts regarding the blonde jock, especially her prom proposal, smirking as she did so.

Honestly, she was still surprised by her courage, Adora wasn't one to freely speak her mind - in that way particularly - or to ask for something, until the situation is dire -- and perhaps Catra had more to teach her, about giving, and _taking_.

Chuckling at the thought, she kicked a branch in her step, remembering those stolen glances she would sneak as the jock fiddled with her signature black and yellow pencil, her thumb pressed over her lip in concentration, digging through a skyscraper of words on a page... Before the magicat was smacked with an accusatory shout of something along the lines of _'keep your eyes on your own test'_.

Revisiting that memory also smacked her, but what hit her ears this time was a hiss, _well, shit._ Quickly surveying the ground for shadows, she swerved, dodging a fallen snake, which was likely hanging by a branch earlier.

Maybe she was too peaceful in her step, having too easy a time, and life inevitably made it harder, because what else would it do? Give her a rich best friend, endless magical potential, and a seemingly well-off life? Absolutely not. She did what she could with the cards dealt, of which, she had the equivalent of nothing. But she worked with it, and in her current predicament, she used her mind, her speed, to escape.

Understanding the sluggishness of an animal without legs - or limbs that accomplish the same purpose - was simple, if one was to encounter a snake, rather than fighting, it would be advantageous to run.

You don't have to be Entrapta-level smart to figure that one out, simply relying upon a quick-witted response, based on (at the very least) satisfactory deductive reasoning skills, could get anyone out of a tough situation in a pinch.

Though, deductive reasoning only works if the information you're running on is correct.

"Catch me if you can," she lipped to herself, on all fours, sprinting in the vague direction of the library, avoiding branches.

If she wanted to get through this, she had to be more observant, as well as disable that cocky attitude for more than a minute because she realised her mistake at a lucky time, and she wasn't one fortunate enough to be greeted by lady luck all the time.

She underestimated this species of snake, obviously one couldn't apply basic logic to a magical creature expecting it to work. 

However, this would only be a problem for a slow human. 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Humming as she stretched, Adora slowly got out of bed, allowing her naked body to be kissed by the sun's warmth. Smiling, she inhaled, slowly exhaling as she opened her eyes to find a familiar group of trees. 

She spent an hour of her morning doing her usual routine, whipping up some protein and burning a few calories as she waited for the rest of the world to wake up.

Finding her phone under a textbook, she dialled Bow's number, happy to see those two again.

Yeah, things may have been tense between them regarding Catra, but they were still the best friends squad, and nothing could break them apart, certainly not a bit of awkwardness.

Even then, they seemed to be getting better now, Glimmer not being as blatantly disinterested around Catra or a discussion of her.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Lance appeared, bubbly greeting the magicat outside of the library, a scroll tucked beneath his armpit.

"Great to see you again, come on in."

As strange as the place still was to her, those endless cascades of shelves were only comforting, rather than making her feel smaller than she already was, and she was only five foot two.

"So, you mentioned learning more, anything you want to know in particular?" George looked up from the book in his hand.

"There's a gap, a missing section, in the books you've sent me, talking about some kind of forbidden spell, that's the _first_ thing I want to know."

"Oh." They looked at each other.

George was the first to speak up, "The spell of obtainment..."

"Yeah, but before we get to that, I'm gonna take a nap," she said, approaching a familiar room.

"Not much of a morning person, eh?"

\- - - - - - - - 

Adora stepped through an already propped up door, drooling at the aroma of coffee driving her mad. Finding Glimmer, Bow and Scorpia at a large booth, she greeted them before placing her bag down, going to order a drink.

Rehearsing her order mentally while in the queue, the jock stumbled to the front, the words leaving her brain as she stared up to the chalkboard menu.

"Can I get a uh... Iced latte macchiato?" 

"Yup, what size?" 

\- - - - - - - - - - - 

Catra now awake, and a lot more in the mood to squeeze information into that damn memory bank of hers, she sat down, opposite the two lovers.

"Well, we hid it for a reason, it is _incredibly_ dangerous," Lance explained, turning to George as if to silently communicate.

"You have to promise us, _promise_ , that you will **never** cast it."

She sat there in silence, watching him stare into her soul.

"Promise us," Lance said.

"I promise, now, can we get on with it."

They looked to each other one more time, George nodding. 

"Whoever casts it becomes a victim to the spell, being controlled by the parasite as it drains energy. It grants extreme levels of power, but at the cost of not only bodily function/control but also life. Once one does the spell, it must be fed for as long as the caster lives, or doesn't," Lance started.

"It appears to fuse with its victim, leeching whatever it can until its vessel is no longer able to drain others, or themselves." George started to walk, guiding Catra, "We keep anything regarding it in a locked room, come on."

Making it to the back of the ground floor, George counted every bookshelf they passed until stopping at the seventh, Lance dug his fingers by the wall, holding the carpet up as a wooden trapdoor was revealed, rolling the carpet back, he looked to his partner, nodding in unison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As December time approaches, I will warn you all in advance that I'll likely go on hiatus for two or three weeks (towards the end of that month).
> 
> So for those two/three weeks I recommend that you find yourselves a good fic dealer (lol) if you're prone to getting withdrawal symptoms. I mean, I tried to get through a 'normal book' and fuck was it terrible in contrast to the fics I've been reading, so good luck quenching that pit of boredom.
> 
> I may (no guarantees) during that time write up a short 5kish omegaverse oneshot in efforts of tiding y'all over, but I'm not making any promises just yet.
> 
> So uhh... If you'd be interested in that... Subscribe I guess?
> 
> Anyways, until next week friends,  
> \- Your local Ao3 junkie


	25. "is physics really that hot?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean... Is physics really that x = the secant of z? Y'know... sec z  
> (yes that's a real formula)  
> Anyway, enjoy this chapter :)

Making their way down a ladder, and through a kafkaesque set of security measures, the magicat was introduced to a large glass cage, featuring a desk, shelves covered in various discoveries, and a vent at the top.

This room was designed to perfectly preserve artefacts, its temperature and humidity keeping everything in the same condition as it was found.

Searching a delicate scroll of paper, Catra couldn't gather a word of what it said, squinting as she tried harder to jumble the symbols into letters, understanding only the very basics of first one's language.

"It's all translated on this laptop, which stays here." George pointed at an old desk in the corner of the room.

\- - - - - 

"Hey, guys." Adora smiled, joining her booth full of 'study-buddies' as Bow nicknamed them. Though, she thought 'study squad' would sound far better and make more sense...

"Hope you don't mind me joining you all, Entrapta's great at studying but she's _waaaaay_ ahead of me," Scorpia nervously giggled.

Meanwhile, Adora sat down, taking a sip of her order.

"Trust me, it's okay, we come here every Saturday, and you're very welcome to join in," Bow assured her, their bubbly attitudes made for each other as they managed to spur up a conversation in just a few glances.

Meanwhile, Glimmer sat on her phone, _productive as always_ , and the jock grabbed a few books from her bag, getting straight to work.

Social hour is great, but shit needs to be done, especially if she wants to meet up with Catra afterschool more often, it's not like she's going to go home right after they meet... Strange situations are pretty much their thing.

One of the last few times popped up in her mind... 

Yeah, it was risky, but it was a damn good 'mentoring hour' for them both. They were learning plenty too, if Catra's gspot was in the curriculum then the jock would get full marks, no doubt about that.

Or even the length of her fur in different areas...

She's practically memorised her inside and out (quite literally), bending her fingers under the table...

Maybe she should've stopped then, but no, the catgirl was practically addictive, her brain craving her mental image, craving her scent, _craving every damn part of her._

Wow. The idiot needed to stop thinking because the whole table went silent as Glimmer pointed out her rosy cheeks.

\- - - - - 

"Everything we previously told you about was gathered from this ancient sorcerer, we used her story as a case study and derived our ideas from that, aside from this example, nothing like it has happened in hundreds of years..." Lance tapped away at the laptop, displaying the translated script as George brought over an ancient vase.

Standing beside Catra, he slowly turned it, revealing the carvings of people, depicting a story. 

One of a crazed woman - the hunger for power clear as daylight in the way she was drawn alone - black tendrils wrapping around her, and leaving cracks of purple in their way, driving the woman further into insanity as she slaughtered her company, all except one -- who was lucky enough to escape and tell the tale.

To Catra, it felt more like a fairytale, like a morality play than reality, though, seeing the spells glyph, she understood the danger. Yes, Micah hadn't taught her _advanced_ stuff, but this was way beyond the things she caught him casting in secret.

As the story said, a mad woman's last resort, her last attempt at gaining power.

Nodding, she mumbled, "This... Is..."

"Unbelievable, right?" Lance glanced away from his screen.

Having studied this part of history already, you would've thought he would remain unaffected, but no, this was nothing like he had seen in the past, and it managed to strike fear into him at the mere thought of the wrong person gaining this knowledge.

It's not that they could 'take over the world' in some way or another with it, it's that they'd do _not only_ irreversible damage to the planet but also to themselves.

"It took a hundred skilled sorcerers to take her down, and even then, they didn't kill her, it was the lack of energy that lead to her demise..."

\- - - - - -

"Gee, Adora, is physics really that hot?" 

_I bet it's **her**_. Glimmer silently lipped to herself, trying to avoid the subject. Catra. The delinquent Adora seems to have nothing but heart eyes for.

Maybe Catra was right when it came to one thing, the jock being an idiot, because she sure as hell couldn't understand what Adora saw in her.

Okay, maybe she was kind of hot, in the scruffy, disgruntled way, but still, she was so stuffed full of sarcasm that it threatened to spill between every single word she spoke...

" _W-Whatareyoutalkingabout?_ " She slammed the book shut.

"What, does the distance, speed, time formula turn you on? Do numbers turn you on?" Glimmer kept going, a shit-eating grin on her face, eyebrows raised.

"That would explain why she's so good at math," Scorpia giggled.

"I think that's enough teasing, come on, she looks embarrassed enough," Bow gave her a tight smile.

The jock simply put her tomato for a face into the palm of her hands.

There was a slight problem with that, as having her eyes closed now made her think of the magicat. Well, even more than before, because she was free to imagine in further detail. Quickly tilting her head up, she lightly slapped her own cheek.

 _Focus, Adora. Focus._ She kept chanting the word like a mantra in her head, until someone's voice interrupted her.

"Uhh, you okay there?" Bow scooted closer to her seat, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. 

"I'm fine, just _distracted_."

\- - - - - - - 

"Alright, so we can gauge your ability, could you do one of your light spells?" George asked, expecting something simple.

Catra made sure to show off as much as possible, replicating Micah's alteration to the original spell without a hitch. What he ended up teaching her was a mastered version, one which developed considerably on the original foundation of a standard 'light casting'.

"Who taught you?" Lance cut in, watching her swirl the magic around, reabsorbing its tingling energy.

"Micah, he owns some 'business'." 

She assumed most magic users inside of Prime's playpen would either know each other incredibly well, and live in small communities, or wouldn't know anyone else at all.

"So he _is_ real..." They looked at each other.

"What do you mean?"

"He had tried to communicate with other magic users at one point, his name being deciphered from a dozen clues, though we didn't know if it was an alias..."

"So, what now? You want me to give him a trackerpad or some shit?"

"No, it'd be dangerous if he's a public figure as you mentioned, could you talk to him? Mention that we got his signal." George picked at his chin as he spoke.

\- - - - - - - -

Towards the end of their study session, Glimmer and Bow opted to leave early, offering to drop everyone else off, though they wanted to stay behind and _actually_ get some work done.

This was the only time Adora hadn't finished early, normally way ahead of the others because of her razor-sharp focus.

With Scorpia staying behind, they sat together, the jock helping her with her work -- while she returned the favour with a tasteful joke or thanks each time.

Yes, they had known each other in the past, boxing mainly, but it was surprising how well Scorpia could maintain a conversation, how her warm attitude was mixed into every word that left her mouth, it'd be near impossible to imagine her angry.

"By the way, have you seen wildcat recently?" She fidgeted.

"Friday. Afternoon. Why?"

"She keeps avoiding me, and Entrapta, we keep asking her to hang out with us, but she keeps saying no," She said, "has she been acting weird at all lately?"

"No. She's been fine with me. I can ask her what's up next time I see her, if you want."

"Oh, don't worry about it, I'll just message her again, or call."

"I think she said she might be busy this weekend."

"Oh..." 

Scorpia frowned, typing away at her keyboard, relaying the information to her favourite genius, that sadly, they can not study Catra's behaviour just yet.

\- - - - - - -

"Is there anything specific you want to learn first?" Lance asked.

"No, you guys know your stuff, so teach me whatever."

"Alright, you've already near enough mastered light, so, maybe air or illusions magic?" George thought aloud, "We need to find your alignment, but if you're so skilled with those already, then we should start with illusions work."

"Well, we're not the best at the elements, mainly focussing on glyphs, but we could also teach you some of those," Lance offered.

"Yeah, Micah taught me a few glyphs actually..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, it is decided, I'll be on hiatus for the month of December.
> 
> With my update schedule, the last chapter, for now, will be this one, then once I finish the oneshot I have outlined, I'll upload that sometime in the middle of that month.
> 
> So yes, it's very likely that y'all will be getting a hentai-inspired omegaverse oneshot sometime... *insert lenny face here*
> 
> But unfortunately, you'll see the next update for this fic in 2021, I mean... It's not 2020 so maybe the quality will be better? Yeah, sorry about that folks, I wish I could make one for Dec 1st but I have a pretty important college assignment coming up, so ouch.
> 
> I guess I'll see you all next year (aside from the oneshot) so take care,  
> Yours sincerely,  
> that one Ao3 junkie


	26. heart-eyes pt1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra & Adora go on a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, welcome to my first chapter of 2021! Yes it's a tad late, but the reasoning for that will be explained in the authors note at the end.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

"You ready?" Catra asked over the phone as Adora packed several metal dishes of food into her backpack, her voice slightly distorted over the static, they hadn't a chance to meet up in a few days, and this was a _'date'_. 

"Yeah, nearly."

"Good then, I'm on my way, and I've got a surprise." Catra grinned, locking the door to her treehouse with a new passcode (and fingerprint) system.

Scorpia (and Entrapta to think of it) had been acting strange since, though Catra's assumption/reasoning for that was something along the lines of Scorpia maybe finding out what the scientist was making for her.

Well... It wasn't exactly made for her, _she won't be the recipient_ , but she sure will get a _lot_ of enjoyment out of it.

Then again, Scorpia is probably too oblivious to have figured it out.

"Oh?-" Adora was about to ask before the call was cut off, "I guess I'll have to wait..." 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Yeah, _yeah_ , have you finished making _it_?"

Entrapta picked up her microphone, "I've got most of it ready, but you mentioned adding specific settings, and I presume you'd want specific features also?"

"The main thing is the remote, and I'll want to use it one-handed, so don't add too many-"

Shades of green reflected off the metal on her brand new bike as a gust of wind flew by, ruffling her long, curly, brown hair. Maybe she could enjoy this more than running, relishing in the crisp feeling of chill air hitting her skin with every pedal.

"There appears to be a lot of wind, could you repeat that?"

"Fine, I want a dial on the remote, but not too many buttons, I need it to work long distance, and be discreet, got it?"

"I'm telling you, you should just let me implant a chip-"

"For the last time, no brain implant whatevers."

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A beautiful view of Catra appeared before her, light kissing, blessing, every feature, dancing around her shoulders as the trees - above and around - them swayed as if they were fragile.

That _stupid_ smile took hold of her ragged lip, eyes squinting ever so slightly into that sweet look of her dork's. "What?"

"Nothing... You just-" Adora looked away for a second, leaning on the wall, "-look beautiful," She said as she nearly tripped over, her toe catching the bottom of the door frame, flailing to regain balance.

"You're such an idiot. 'Course I do." She rolled her eyes, feeling a strain on her cheeks.

Trying to conceal her ' _idiotic_ ' emotions, instead, she revealed her surprise, "Well?" She pointed at the bike leaned over the wall.

"Oh, that's cool," The idiot took a peek, "maybe you'll start arriving at school on time."

"It's the surprise, dumbass, and absolutely not."

Lifting her finger to point at the bike before pausing halfway into a stare, Adora tilted her head a little, processing, "You bought it for me?"

" **Yes, Adora.** _I went to my local retailer and purchased this_ damn bike, _for YOU_."

Damn it, she really loved this fool. Actually- no, love was too strong a word, she _liked_ Adora, enough to simply tolerate her, and maybe, _possibly_ , enjoyed every second of every moment they ever shared -- and maybe ever will...

Whatever she wanted to call it, this _'infatuation'_ was pretty powerful, to say the least. Adora wasn't ordinary, so why should her love for her be either?

"Oh," She continued to stare at it, taking a step and gliding her palm against the cold metal of the handlebars.

"Oh?"

Seeing Catra's confused face was probably a sign that she misunderstood, so she said, "I don't think anyone has ever thought of me so much, y'know, to buy something like this."

"Well, you seem to like suffering-" She let out a fake cough, "I mean _cardio_ , a lot, so I put two and two together. _Plus, Sparkles and Arrowboy might just leave us the fuck alone in the morning_."

At the end of her ramble, Catra felt familiar arms circle her, crushing her ribcage -- as if they didn't know how buff they were.

"Now, I've got to get you something special too-" Adora chuckled.

"Don't worry about it." _The 'I just want you' silently playing through her thoughts_.

Pecking her on the cheek, Adora finally let go, looking over to her new mode of transport, "So how are we gonna get to this _'top secret'_ date location then?"

"On the bike, duh." She smirked, with her arms crossed.

"How exactly is that gonna work? There's one bike seat, and two of us..."

"Where's that thousand IQ brain cell of yours? I can either sit on the seat, and you peddle standing, or I could sit on the handlebars."

"Isn't that a safety hazard-"

"Have you _never_ taken a risk in your life before, princess?" She chuckled, " _You must be so terrible at poker._ "

"Of course I have, I cheated on that test once, remember?"

Ignoring the last remark of Adora's, she leaned against the wall, "What'll it be?"

"Both options sound dangerous-"

"Handlebars it is."

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Entrapta, when will you tell her the results?" Scorpia asked.

"I know it's unethical to not release her results, but... I want to study her behaviour more, I need the data, can we keep it a secret for another three days or so?"

"I don't think this is right..."

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"How is it?"

"What, doing all the work?" One of the jock's brows rose up.

"Yep" She popped the 'p'.

"I guess it's going okay, I'd say I've got a pretty nice view from here, y'know? Buuuut, I might just start coughing up hairballs after this. I mean, I don't mind-"

"Yikes, Adora, I might just start to think you're a furry or something."

"A what?"

"Don't worry about it. Anyway, how are those jock muscles performing?"

"It's been a few miles, but they're fine."

"Good, but my ass is getting sore from sitting here, so we can take a break further up."

Briefly shutting her eyes and letting out a long sigh, Catra smiled, so openly, staring into the road ahead of them, occasionally giving out directions, but for the most part, just savouring the moment.

It felt nice to be able to rely on someone to do the heavy hitting for once, and know for a fact that they will keep it up. Because there was not one part of Catra that thought Adora would give up on her, she was whipped. Though, so was the idiot sitting on her handlebars -- as much as she refused to acknowledge it.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

After passing through a chunk of Brightmoon, then Mystacor, they had finally made it to the outskirts of the Fright Zone, going the extra mile or so, to take a break beside the sandy shores of the polluted ocean.

By this point, they were already hungry, and Catra said that it'd probably be best that they ate then and there.

So, they sat together, getting sand everywhere, as they opened the food Adora prepared, which was _her_ surprise -- she wanted one too since Catra was keeping everything for herself.

A slight problem occurred when Adora realised she didn't know many of her date's preferences, though one thing was a fact...

She was _ripping_ through the smoked ham.

Shit, it _is_ tasty, but the second those heterochromatic eyes lined up with it, she was practically frothing at the mouth.

Razz likely won't be too pleased to hear her supply of home-dried smoked ham is being caned, but she'd probably smile also, knowing that someone was really enjoying it, treasuring its flavour and all the hard work put into it.

Lines formed beside the corners of her eyes, seeing someone feel so free, so happy... It was out of Etheria. 

And of all people to be looking that way, it being Catra, made things a thousand times better, to have seen her in so much pain, and now joy, it was beautiful, ethereal.

She could keep repeating that word for the rest of her life... _Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful-_

Looking up from the strip of meat in her hand, Catra blushed, "What?"

Having her shoulder punched, Adora giggled, "Nothing."

The gleam in her eye melted something within the brunette, "Then why are you so... Smiley?" She averted her gaze, avoiding a smirk herself, but failing.

"I don't know, what are _you_ so 'smiley' about? I might just start to think you actually _liiiiiike me._ "

With a high pitched yelp as the jock pulled her in for another hug, she squeaked, "You think you're so smart, huh?"

"I'm not the one who said I have a 1000 IQ brain cell." Adora possessed a shit-eating smirk.

"Asshole."

"Hey, I didn't even say anything."

If Catra had transformed, her tail would either be lashing into Adora's side or be wrapped snugly about it, and she didn't know which would be more embarrassing.

No one made her flustered. No one. 

"I'm done with my food, let's hide the bike somewhere and get to the spot I planned," She said, sitting up, " _you coming or not, heart-eyes?_ "

Adora cooed, "Looks like I finally get a nickname."

"That's not a good thing."

"I beg to differ."

"Oh? You beg? You got that one right, princess. Now c'mon, let's pack up."

The idiot looked like she was about to have a seizure. "Oh- _OH_ , ppffffft, **OH-kay** , _I beg_? That's awfully rich coming from you."

"You're feeling extra bratty today, hm?"

" **Again** , rich coming from you," Adora smirked -- her brows practically up in the clouds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I get into the usual stuff, I need to tell you all that updates will no longer be weekly as... Let's just say 2021 started off pretty rough.
> 
> A relative of mine was put into a covid ward last year, and passed away in early January. Since then, I've been struggling with motivation - and just translating my incoherent thoughts onto paper in general - so that has made it a thousand times harder to write, and I've only been able to whip this chapter out recently. 
> 
> So I do apologise that I can't keep updates as frequent as usual, and I really wanted to release a chapter much earlier this month, but I just haven't been able to.
> 
> Thank you all for understanding.
> 
> Anyways, onto the more fun stuff.
> 
> The catradora version of 'there's two of us and one bed' is officially "there's only one bike seat, and two of us"
> 
> Also, any specific (side) character arcs you folks want to see? I cant gaurentee that I'll add them in, I just need some more ideas. So feel free to yeet your headcanons and thoughts at me :)
> 
> Alright, heres some music because I said so. I was really vibing to these as I wrote this chapter 
> 
> Sleepwalk - santo and johnny  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziv_kJTs-Fc&ab_channel=eternal%21
> 
> Dreams - Bazzi  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-0yVxcb__M


	27. heart-eyes pt2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra & Adora's date continued on

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, hello!  
> I wanted to try out a different way of formatting things, please let me know how you feel about it in the comments :)
> 
> (Also, please read this fic on your phone, I write it in a certain way specifically so it looks easier to read on there)

Together, they snuck around. Into what looked like a half-forsaken part of town, bits of rusty scaffolding surrounding one area in particular, _that was it_. Catra was more than familiar with these kinds of places, being a curious child - who would rather be _anywhere_ than home - does that, even if at first she got hurt for it. Then again, Weaver eventually stopped caring -- as long as it didn't disturb her _high and mighty_ reputation.

Continuing Adora's exploration - and Catra's revisit - they passed through countless creaky doors to eventually discover something special...

A long-abandoned building, later turned home, to a younger, more naive, brunette.

Abandoned why? They didn't know that just yet.

" _Woah_." Adora did a 360 of her surroundings. Her eyes travelled across the bare, naked, metal walls, avoiding odd pallets with boxes stacked atop until she found a small coffee-stained desk.

Beside it was a panel of buttons, their once vivid colours reduced to dulled down reds and greens.

" _What is this?_ "

"Used to be an inn for soldiers."

Though, before she could discover any more, Catra took her hand, leading her to a stairwell, "I have something to show you, c'mon."

• - - - - - - - - - -

Climbing one of two narrow staircases, Catra took each stride as if she knew the layout of every grain. Meanwhile, Adora followed, treading as if she were on thin ice -- leaning her arm on the wall.

That is, until she felt a bump; assuming it was some kind of photo frame, she wiped it down, patting the dust off her skin.

Her mouth wide open, she stared, "Catra, check this out."

"Hm?"

"This **isn't** Prime..."

"You're right. It's _not_." Catra flicked her phone out, taking a photograph. _I'll have to ask the historians about this one later._

"Let's keep moving before my nose clogs up with dust." She took Adora's hand.

Without further questions, they kept going until they reached the top floor, Adora discovering a door not covered in dust and mud, a pathway made toward it.

"Have you been in here before? It looks fresh..."

" _That_ used to be my home away from _'home'_ , it's where I got my first switchblade, and some other shit."

"Oh, that's cool, I guess."

Learning to sew from scratch was fucking hard. But, at least little Catra had something else to wear, something to be proud of making.

"Yeah, I remember taking one of the soldier's uniforms and trimming it down to my size, didn't have much cash back then. Well, none, really. So this was a goldmine."

• - - - - - - -

Finally, they made it to the roof, it being one of Catra's favourite spots across the Fright Zone. From here, they could see pollution rising from the factories/camps and military bases of the dense city into the sky.

It carried a strange kind of beauty to Adora, though to Catra, it reminded her of who she was, of the tiny part of her childhood devoid of screaming, arguing, or pain. A memory of her diddy feet breaking a stair and nearly falling into oblivion making its way forward to ruin the good times spent exploring her town.

However, Adora bumped her shoulder before she had a chance to spiral deeper into her mind.

"Y'know, it's kinda cold. You mind if I, um, hug you?" She scooted closer, adding on, " _For warmth_."

"Just kiss me already... _Dork_."

"Oh-okay," she giggled.

This place... It used to be such a happy memory, though it's a bit bitter now Adora knows a way to sweeten it, her hands cupping her cheeks.

 _Fuck. Her skin's so soft, her neck's so warm, ugh, I need to get that hair tie out now._ Just as Catra planned, Adora didn't have a chance to object as her head was tugged back mid-kiss, her prom date going for her supple neck as her fingers freed her hair.

Blonde locks drooped over her shoulder, her cheeks pink, and her eyes glazed over with _that_ look again.

Simply staring at each other, Adora began to speak, her voice frayed with emotion, " _Catra..._ "

" _Adora._ " She whispered.

• - - - - - -

Dangling their legs over the roof of the inn, they sat together - lips kiss swollen and fingers interlaced - they stared off into the distance. That is before Adora noticed Catra staring at a small puddle beside them.

"You okay?"

Humming in response, Catra sat up, motioning for her date to follow, before kneeling beside the water.

"Apparently, I _don't_ have an alignment." She sighed.

"An alignment?"

"There are types of magic. Anyone can use energy-based stuff, _like what I taught you..._ "

"Oh, you mean that light spell?"

"Yeah, but to use elemental magic, you have to have an alignment to any of the elements -- like water."

" _And you don't have one..._ " Adora put two and two together, she tried to assure her, "You don't really need one anyway, right? Like, you're amazing with light, and-"

"I thought being with you would distract me... It did for a little while. But you know what?"

"Huh?"

" _She-Ra doesn't need an alignment..._ I doubt you'd even _need_ to train."

She sighed again, "Go on, prove me right."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Transforming, She-Ra hovered a hand over the puddle, Catra's teachings flowing through her mind -- 'your intentions are key to magic, imagine them'.

So, that's what she did, imagined the water following her palm.

Lip curling up, Catra scoffed, whispering, "Of course. _I'm right, I'm always fucking right._ "

"Did I do it?" Adora opened her eyes to see her work.

Surely enough, she had managed to do it, the water swishing back into place as her focus depleted. Smiling, she looked over her shoulder to watch Catra roll a sleeve up. Then try her hand.

"It thought you said-"

" **Shut it.** "

One of her eyebrows twitched as she looked deep into the dirty water, her stare probably boiling it.

"What are you doing?"

Just as a tiny sliver started to approach her shoe, her breaths became laboured. Then a small line started forming across her forearm (looking as though someone cut it with a tiny chainsaw, each edge becoming frayed).

"Catra... _Catra_ , your arm, maybe you should-"

Wincing, she kept going, before nearly falling, her other hand holding her up as well as one of Adora's circled around her.

" _It's **not** fair,_" she mumbled.

Rolling her other sleeve up revealed many patches of discolouration, which Adora assumed arrived the same way the line on her arm did, with it now fading, similar patches formed.

For a moment, they paused, taking a second to think, process, and breathe.

"No, _it's not_ , but it doesn't mean 'you're bad at magic' or something, you're incredible, and you don't _need_ an alignment _to_ be incredible."

Letting out a bitter laugh, Catra snarked, "That's rich coming from you, _little miss perfect._ "

"You know what's _not_ fair?" Adora started, "I'm not perfect like everyone says I am, but I **have to** live up to that.-"

"No, you don't."

Ignoring that, the jock kept going, "Or they'll force their disappointment on me. _I'm not smart either_. Yeah, you could give me an equation and I'll figure it out, but in the real world, _I'm fucking useless._ "

Letting go of Catra's waist, she placed her hand over her forearm, darkly chuckling.

" _I'm so fucking useless_. I had to _learn_ how to talk to people, from Glimmer and Bow, without them I wouldn't have made it through middle school, _shit_ , I even get bullied now, but do you know how bad it _used_ to be?"

" _Adora, I-_ "

"No, let me finish. I _still_ get bullied by a kid **younger** than us. How pathetic is that? And guess what, _I'M_ the disappointment of the family, all I had was Mara -- and I'll _never_ be able to live up to her..."

They both stared at the ground, taking a break to breathe before Adora continued on.

"Then look at you, you've got your shit figured out. You can do some crazy magic stuff, you're so smart, you could probably play a person like a cello," she whisper-mumbled the next line, " _sometimes, I feel so stupid around you _."__

___You're everything I've ever wanted to be.__ _

"I don't. I don't have my shit together, Adora, _I never have_."

They took each other's hands into their own.

"I've just been surviving for as long as I could," Catra admitted, "I don't know what I'll be doing in the next, _what_ , five years? Still leeching off Entrapta and Scorpia, probably." _Or maybe I'll finally fucking die, but that'd be too kind of life._

"I... I don't think you will. I see you learning magic, like, the really really advanced stuff I couldn't even imagine, somewhere outside of here."

• - - - - - - - - -

"Aideen, you're nearly ready." An old person greeted Catra with a smile. Walking along a mountainside with her, passing serene landscapes full of sorcerers, and all kinds of magic-users, of various ages and species, creating a show with light, water, fire...

"I told you _not_ to call me that."

"What would you prefer? _Little fire, or jealousy?_ "

She growled. Her fur, claws, and hair had grown out. It suited her, it really did -- it might've been a mess, but that only fit her better. In these years, her skin carried a few wrinkles, nothing noticeable to a 'normal' person, except Adora, who was observant here: she knew _her_ Catra.

"Aideen it is. Do you know of your origins?" They looked elsewhere, hands slipping comfortably into two oversized pockets.

"Not 'Aideen' or 'Asteria's', I just know a bit about Cadmus'."

"Do you know of Crafanc's?"

"No."

• - - - - - -

Adora woke up, her whole body tingling. She headed downstairs to find darkness outside, so she grabbed herself a glass of water, looking at the window for a little while longer to notice a trail of smoke. Half-asleep and delirious, Adora followed it.

Throwing a coat and some shoes on, she left the house, careful to make a sound, finding...

_Razz_.

More importantly, she was laying down with an array of strange items around her. Staring up at the sky before noticing a new presence, then turning to grin, "Mara dearie, it's so good to see you again."

"I-I'm not Mara, _c'mon Razz_ , this **keeps** happening-"

"It's your stars tonight. I'd never miss it. Asteria was truly a gift to you."

"Asteria?"

"She was wonderful, your Asteria, _so kind_. I remember when she brought the stars. I can't imagine the sky without them now."

"Who are you talking about?"

Razz chuckled, "Don't be silly dear! Now, sit down and watch them with me. I know how much you loved telling me stories about them all. 'The fourth one was special', you always said there was a planet next to it. _You even gave it a name_."

"What was it?"

_"Krytis."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to let me know how you feel about the indents and stuff!  
> Trust me, it's no problem if you dont like them, I can just edit the chapter to have the regular formatting in the click of a button :)
> 
> Anyway, I'm starting to slowly get back into the hang of things, while taking it slow I've been compiling all of my ideas, lore/worldbuilding, into a document (that I'll probably release when I finish this fic) and it's been really helpful.
> 
> Can't wait to show off all the stuff I worked out, but yall will get snippets as we go along -- and probably an info dump at some point much later on.
> 
> But, yeah, hope you're all well, have a good week :)

**Author's Note:**

> Updates are going to be more sparse with recent events, I do apologise, but I'm finding it difficult to keep weekly ones going.


End file.
